When Nancy Woolner walked out of her bungalow on Phi Phi Island at 9.30 a.m. on Boxing Day she realised that the tide had suddenly started to rise.
Within seconds, a wall of water was pounding the island, slamming Mrs Woolner and her two daughters, Wendy and Charmaine, against the buildings. Bruised and battered, the three women managed to resurface and crawl their way to safety.
The Woolners were yesterday trying to come to terms with the fact that they had managed to survive one of the most devastating natural disasters the world has seen.
"Considering everything, we're so lucky to be alive," a clearly shaken Wendy, 26, told The Times from her hospital bed in the south of Thailand yesterday.
The family was reunited for the first time yesterday after Charmaine switched hospitals to be with her mother and sister, while her father - Brian- flew in from Libya where he works.
Thailand had been Wendy's home for two years and her mother and sister were paying a last visit for Christmas to the idyllic island of Phi Phi before the entire family made their way back to Malta.
Mrs Woolner was operated upon yesterday for fractures she sustained to her legs and arms. Wendy is tending to a fractured rib and Charmaine is recovering from gashes and bruises.
The chain of events of Boxing Day in the holiday from hell is somewhat blurred.
"I had just woken up and I saw the water rising. I walked back into the bungalow and within minutes the water came pouring in," Wendy recounted.
"I was slammed across to the back of the building and I was under water for a while. But then I think the bungalow's roof or one of the walls came apart and the water subsided. Then I was sucked out and I recall ending up clinging on to the roof of another bungalow."
She started looking for her mother and found her on the ground crying for help. She could hear her sister's screams in the background.
"I tried to help my mum to higher ground but luckily help was at hand. By this time I was dazed - too much was going on around me," Wendy recalled.
"It's a miracle that all three of us came out of it alive. I have no idea how we managed to survive especially since we were right in it when the waves came crashing in."
When Mrs Woolner and Wendy were finally winched to safety, they feared the worst for Charmaine and spent the next two days reeling in shock.
From the helicopter, the scene was one of devastation. The island was completely flattened. The tsunami washed over one side of the island only to return minutes later to destroy the narrow isthmus.
Giving her version of the horror that gripped the island, Charmaine said she had been recovering from a stomach bug when she was woken up by her mother who alerted her that the tide was rising.
"I called out for Wendy but the next thing I remember is that the bungalow in front of us was ripped apart, just like in the movies," Charmaine recalled.
"When you see waves moving in at 400 miles an hour there's little you can do. I remember trying to claw my way out through the darkness. We were drowning and gagging.
"I remember the eerie sounds and I recall sticking my head out of the water. I found myself in two to three metres of debris and started calling out for help. The water came back in again but I managed to remain afloat."
With a badly injured foot, Charmaine plodded along to another building further inland, which was transformed into a makeshift hospital. She would put her mind at rest a couple of hours later when an acquaintance told her he had seen Wendy and her mother walking away from the waves.
Charmaine was transported to a hospital where she had to be treated on the floor because it was bursting at the seams with the injured.
The 31-year old admitted she had only managed to get her first night's sleep on Wednesday. "I'm so thankful I managed to survive the ordeal. I hope to get over this nightmare one day. I'm so scared of noises at the moment," she confessed.