How she spent the night between dead women

American tourist Matthew O’Connell started laughing when he awoke to find his hotel room filled with water. But when a raging wall of t...

American tourist Matthew O’Connell started laughing when he awoke to find his hotel room filled with water. But when a raging wall of tidal wave water ripped him and Israeli friend Sue Mor apart, the laughter turned to sheer terror.

O’Connell and Mor today narrated how they survived after being separated by floodwaters at Ambalangoda, lucky to escape being among the estimated 70 foreign tourists dead in Sri Lanka which recorded a nationwide toll of 5,880.

Mor recounted the drama after having spent the night sleeping between the bodies of two dead women in a hospital.

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She said she woke up O’Connell when the first waves brought in water, but he did not take her seriously. He got up, went out and on his way back found he could not close the door behind him as water surged into their guest house.

‘‘I was laughing as I tried to close the door. Then it went from really amusing to deadly serious,’’ O’Connell said dressed in clothes given by local people — a woman’s blouse and a curtain wrapped around his waist.

Both were bruised and ended up at the main Karapitiya Hospital which is overflowing with the dead and the wounded.

Mor said she slept between two dead women at the hospital. — PTI

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