Afternoon:
10°c
Comedian Billy Connolly's wife, Pamela Stephenson, today spoke of the aftermath of the tsunami, which she witnessed while holidaying in Samoa.
She said: “I am quite used to earthquakes from living in California - I was not too bothered about it but this one seemed to go on for a long time.
"Quite often we have tsumani warnings here and there were sirens going. I realised then that this was real.
"I drove down to Coconuts [a resort on the island] and when I got near to Coconuts there were quite a few cars parked and I couldn't get close, so I had to walk.
"I found it almost impossible to get down to the sea - I was worried about electrical cables. It was the most terrible scene of devastation. There was literally nothing left. There were cars, new cars, that have been just piled on top of rubbish. There were fridges and air conditioners floating in the sea.
"I ran into a woman who was searching in the woods. They had just found a white woman - she was in Coconuts.
"One of my very good friends died. She and her husband were trying to run to their car and they were caught by the wave and she was found on the beach a little while later.
"There were probably not too many tourists there at the time. I think the majority of people killed and injured were on the Samoan side.
"What I am hearing about is how hospitals were full of people and people were taken so much by surprise - there were children getting ready to go to school. It is so terribly, terribly tragic.”
