Holidays turned to disaster in southern Thailand, which welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists to its southern beaches during the Christmas season. Simon Clark, 29, a photographer from London on holiday on Ngai island with his girlfriend, Caroline Barton, 25, described how a huge wave had suddenly rushed up the beach, destroying everything in its wake. "People who were snorkelling were dragged along the coral and washed up on the beach, and people who were sunbathing got washed into the sea.