Escape!

Edward White, 56, and his wife Margaret, 67, of Holden Fold, said they had just got off the sands in time when the tidal wave hit Patong Beach in Phuket.

And last night they phoned home to tell their family, who had received no news of them for three days: "We're still alive."

Edward's mother Agnes, 79, and his sister Diane Lambert, had tried frantically to reach Edward on his mobile phone on Boxing Day but it was turned off.

They had also made call after call to the Smile Inn Hotel where Edward and Margaret were staying, also to no avail. Agnes

and Diane, who received a postcard from the couple on Christmas Eve - dated December 15 - also left Edward and Margaret's descriptions and details with the Foreign Office in the hope they would be spotted.

After three days of hell waiting anxiously for news in front of the television they finally received a call from the couple at around 4pm yesterday after they had managed to escape the tsunami and get to Bangkok.

Edward and Margaret, who have been to the Thai resort of Phuket several times before, flew to the resort on December 4 and were due home early in the new year after a five week holiday.

Diane, of Vernon Street, Darwen, said: "We were really worried for them because Edward usually always answers his mobile phone and we had not been able to get through.

"We phoned the hotel and left their details with the Foreign Office but had heard nothing. We were so happy to find out they were safe and well.

"After the pictures we have seen on the TV we were worried they may not have been able to get away from the water because Edward uses a wheelchair. We only spoke very briefly but they said they only just managed to get off the beach in time."

Agnes, who lives with Diane, added: "They go to Thailand a lot at Christmas and they usually always phone home on Christmas Day to wish us all the best. It was so unlike them not to phone but we are just so happy they have turned up."

Around a dozen Britons are have been confirmed dead in the disaster, which has is now thought to have claimed the lives of at least 60,000 people in Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, The Maldives, Indonesia and other areas of the Indian Ocean.

Massive waves engulfed thousands of miles of coastline after an under water magnitude 9.0 earthquake - the world's biggest in 40 years - caused water levels to rise.

Thailand's official death toll stands at 1,516 but that figure may rise to 2,000.

Tourists who have already arrived back in the UK from Phuket have told how the waves destroyed hotels along the resorts beaches. Hundreds of foreign visitors are among the dead as many divers and sun bathers were swept out to sea from beaches near Phuket.