The Hindu : National : Narrow escape for scientist, family

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 29, 2004

National

National

Narrow escape for scientist, family

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, DEC. 28. Scientist and head of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research here, C.N.R. Rao, and his family had a miraculous escape from the tsunami when it struck Sri Lanka where they were holidaying.

He said the tsunami "continued in a series of giant waves for quite sometime afterwards, it was not just one or two big waves."

Mr. Rao, who reached Bangalore late on Monday night, said they were riding a boat on a river close to Galle in southwest Sri Lanka when the tsunami struck.

"Fortunately we were not at the hotel then... the ground and first floors were completely damaged by the waves, and beds, furniture and other objects were floating around. Our room on the second floor escaped the fury. Many tourists and hotel staff were missing and they might have been washed away."

As the water level in the river rose and the impact of the waves from the sea was felt, their boatman panicked and abandoned them, Mr. Rao said. "We had to struggle to find our way back to the hotel where everything was chaotic." However, they managed to catch a bus to Colombo.

He contacted his grandson in Bangalore, who found the address and telephone numbers of a hotel in Colombo where the Jet Airways crew usually stayed.

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