WHEN Bury nurse Jan Hassall finishes her hectic Boxing Day shift at the Royal Bolton Hospital, her thoughts will turn to the same time last year when she was caught up in the horror of the Asian tsunami.

The 46-year-old recovery nurse had been enjoying an idyllic holiday in the Maldives with her husband, Tony, to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary when tragedy struck.

They were woken at 6.30am, as the earthquake ripped through the paradise resort they were staying in, and following the tremor, the couple had breakfast.

It was as they were walking back to their beachside bungalow Mr Hassall noticed there was no water in the bay, before a 12 foot wave tore into the island and almost killed the couple.

Mrs Hassall, who cannot swim, said: "We just started running in the opposite direction, but before I knew it, it was up to my chest. I got my foot stuck underwater in some of the debris and I was screaming for help. My husband Tony managed to free me and we carried on running.

"There was so much debris, calor gas bottles, beer barrels, and before long the sewage works had exploded and we were running for our lives through sewage."

The couple, of Manchester Road, Bury, managed to make it back to the restaurant where they had eaten breakfast a few hours before, and along with the 160 survivors, scrambled on to the roof and to safety.

It was then that the reality of the situation hit Mrs Hassall - she was the only qualified nurse on the island - and had just two bandages and some bottled water to treat all the injured people.

She explained: "There was one woman, who was German and didn't speak a word of English, who had a really serious cut. All I could do was bandage her up and try to keep her as comfortable as possible. A second woman had crush injuries and bad grazes, and it was horrendous because there was nothing I could give her for pain relief.

"Many people were in serious shock, and as we were on the roof, wearing very little and it was extremely hot, people were becoming dehydrated, so I had to make sure they were drinking enough."

Next morning the Pakistan navy arrived to collect the 160 survivors with the Hassall's and another hundred people from other islands and took them to Mal, the capital of the Maldives.

Mrs Hassall worked tirelessly with the ship's doctor and two other nurses for the next two days tending to the sick and injured - treating more than 80 people.

Mrs Hassall said: "I was fine when I first got back, I was just so relieved to be home, despite losing everything we had taken in the waves. But a few months later it hit me, what we had been through, and it was then that I really struggled.

"It will be strange to be finishing my shift at almost exactly the same time as we were caught up in the tsunami last year, but I'm very grateful to be here."