A British survivor survived the tsunami which devastated the South Pacific by paddling towards the towering wave, he has claimed.
Tom Gogola, from Devon, was in Samoa for a three-week holiday when the island was hit by a 20-foot wall of water.
The 22-year-old was in the water surfing when he saw the wave racing towards the shore.
He did the only thing he could - and paddled as hard as possible straight for the wave.
Aiming the tip of his surfboard up to ensure its nose was not pushed under by the towering wall of water, he said he rode right up and over the top of the wave.........
.....New Zealand student Chris Nel was surfing on the south coast of Savai'i island in Western Samoa when the 8.3 magnitude quake struck on Wednesday morning.
He had been in the water with four other New Zealand surfers and an Australian when the tsunami appeared.
Mr Nel, a hospitality student, was forced to ride out the tsunami on his surfboard for more than half an hour, fearing he would be 'smashed into the jungle' by the surging water.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...emarkable-escape-rode-killer-Samoan-wave.html