A YORK schoolgirl told today how she had to kick down a bungalow door to save herself and her terrified sisters from rising seawater amid the devastation wrought by the Asian tsunami.

The floodwater then swept the three teenagers out into a lagoon, where they found utter devastation - huts ripped apart, luggage and debris everywhere, no clear route to safety and no idea whether the rest of their family was alive.

Their grandmother was dramatically rescued after being swept out to sea while walking on a beach.

To add to the horror, while the family were seeking refuge on a restaurant roof, they saw the dead body of their Sri Lankan hotel owner pulled out of the water.

Emily Gibbons, 15, who goes to the Mount School, in York, suffered a slashed thigh, cuts and bruises, after she used all her strength to kick down the bungalow door. But she and her twin sisters Hannah and Steph, 17, mum and dad Tony and Deb, both 44, and Deb's mother, Margaret Cowley, 75, are lucky to be alive.

Mrs Gibbons said: "It's put us off holidays. I never want to go anywhere again. I'm thoroughly grateful to be alive. I don't think we realised the enormity of it until we got home. We're the lucky ones."

On December 19 the family, from Scagglethorpe, near Malton, flew to Male in the Maldives and caught a seaplane to Hakurra, the most southern atoll, where they were to spend Christmas and see in the New Year while staying in bungalows on stilts over the sea.

The family spent Christmas Day snorkelling on the ring-shaped coral reef. On Boxing Day at 6am the 150 guests were violently shaken from their sleep by an earth tremor - three hours later the Gibbons sisters would have to save themselves from drowning.

"My bed was right by the window. I looked out and saw water rising over the patio. I thought it was a freak wave, but it just kept rising," said Hannah, who attends York's Bootham School.

Emily said the water lifted up the wooden floor and the glass windows shattered. The water kept rising and was reaching chest height, so she kicked down the wooden door, injuring her leg.

Meanwhile their parents, who had been to the restaurant for breakfast, feared for the safety of their children, and Mrs Cowley, who was walking on the beach when the tidal waves struck.

"It was really frightening. There had been three tidal waves and we thought she must have been killed. It had been more than an hour and we really did think she was dead," said Mrs Gibbons.

Her mother, who also lives in Scagglethorpe, had been washed out to sea, but had been rescued by a boat.

She was left traumatised and exhausted.

The family were reunited on the roof of the resort restaurant and then moved to the relative safety of another island. They were later taken by tuna boat to a Pakistani Navy ship that ferried them to Male. They returned home on Tuesday.

Mrs Gibbons said local people were selflessly concerned about holidaymakers' welfare, even though they had suffered great losses themselves.

Meanwhile, a 20-year-old York woman, who declined to be identified, has also arrived home. She suffered a broken leg after experiencing the tsunami horror on Leefushi Island, close to Meeru Island in the Maldives, which was completely swamped by water.

Updated: 10:27 Thursday, December 30, 2004