Kolkata, Dec. 26 (PTI): Passengers arriving at the NSC Bose International Airport here from Port Blair today narrated a tale of devastation in the Andamans, hit by tremor and tidal waves.

Shyamali Ganguly, an advocate based in Port Blair, who arrived by the Indian Airlines flight IC-288 three hours behind schedule said she was yet to recover from the shock.

"I was preparing to leave for the airport around 6.30 a.m. when I felt the tremors. The entire house rattled and two bookshelves in my chamber came crashing down. Within no time, books and shreds of glass were strewn all over the floor," she said.

She said that the road leading to the airport from her residence in the heart of Port Blair, had developed cracks for long stretches, while in some places, craters made motoring difficult.

There were cracks in the airport building at Port Blair, according to Ganguly.

M S Rao, a Coast Guard official, said the tremors were felt sporadically from 6.40 a.m. till around 9.00 a.m. "I was in the Coast Guard Mess when I felt the first tremor. I and my roommates ran out and saw chaos all around us. Some old buildings had collapsed. At the airport, we found hairline cracks on the runway".