Tourists pulled together in 20-hour fight to save lives

Dr George Latham said he saw hundreds of injured and dead after the waves struck Phi Phi in Thailand.

A New Zealand doctor has thanked a band of tourists for their help tending to victims on a Thai island flattened by the tsunami.

Whangarei doctor George Latham and a group of tourists from several countries worked non-stop for 20 hours to save lives on Phi Phi island.

Dr Latham was anchored on a yacht off the island when the giant wave struck, and his 16-year-old grandson, Jordan, was playing on the beach.

The extent of the disaster did not hit Dr Latham until the boat returned to shore, around three hours after the wave struck.

"I had no idea of the destruction. The island was flattened. The only things left were cement block buildings, and lots of them were damaged," he said.

"There were piles and piles of rubble, with people just wandering around stunned.

"I found our grandson. The wave lifted him up and slammed him into a palm tree and up against the wall of a three-storey building. Somehow he got stuck there, in a window we think. He was lucky. It was a miracle, lots of bruises and a few lacerations."

The paediatrician called for all supplies from his yacht and teamed up with a US medical student, Sloane, who was a passenger on another yacht.

"We started seeing people. I have never seen such horrendous wounds, huge gashes, people with large sections of skin hanging."

Two Wellingtonians living in London, Murray and Shelley Pearce, joined Dr Latham and his wife, Ellen McNeil, an audiologist and former head of the National Audiology Centre.

"They had that typical Kiwi can-do attitude. Dressing wounds - working tirelessly," Dr Latham said.

"Hundreds were injured, I don't know how many were killed, I saw lots and lots of bodies. Maybe hundreds, I have no way of knowing.

"There was a Swedish carpenter who made stretchers. We grabbed people who came down from the hills and got them to carry people to the helipad.

"The next day the Thai military started running in helicopters, bringing in medical teams, nurses and lots of supplies, drinking water and evacuating people rapidly. The 50 or so people I saw were evacuated by the next day.

"The attitude of the people who worked with me; my good friend Jeff [an American], Ronnie the Swedish carpenter who stuck with me and kept making the stretchers for the wounded, was fantastic.

"Then there was Paul, an Australian, I don't know his surname. He was a wonderful man, had great humour and got stuck right in carrying people down to the heliport, through the rubble and over collapsed buildings.

"I am thankful for the support and the miracle that my grandson wasn't killed. It is something I won't forget."

Dr Latham and Ellen McNeil carry out volunteer work as they travel by yacht. Before Thailand, they did child health and hearing checks in Samoa and also worked in Cambodia.

They intend to retire to Whangarei when they finish their trip.