| Tsunami | - The tsunami was caused by an underwater earthquake off the coast of Indonesia.
- It happened on Boxing Day.
- The tsunami wave struck the coastline of countries including India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Burma.
- It also hit islands like Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Maldives.
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John and Annie Hofton from Wichenford were holidaying in Thailand when the tsunami struck on Boxing Day - they've not been seen or heard from since, and are believed to have been swept out to sea. The couple's sons travelled to Thailand at the weekend to search for their parents - but have been forced to conclude that they have been lost. John's brother Jimmy told BBC Hereford and Worcester about their search for news about the couple. “From Sunday onwards the whole family got together and it was a week of hell basically. "We had no news other than bad news back from people that we knew in Kowlak – and it was the not knowing. "Ultimately Tom and Edward, who are John’s sons, and Stacey, who’s Annie’s daughter went out to Thailand on Thursday. "They checked every hospital directly or through local Thai speaking people who they had with them and they concluded very, very positively that every survivor in every hospital has been identified and not one of them was John or Annie. | "Neither of them saw the other die a long lingering death, they both went together in a place they loved. " | | Jimmy Hofton - whose brother died |
"If you combine that with the fact that they went to the site of their hotel and they saw quite clearly that (the) hotel doesn’t exist anymore, plus the devastation that went back about three kilometres, if you combine those factors they are 100% sure that (John and Annie) are dead." Jimmy says that identification of most of the bodies recovered will be extremely difficult, and that the family will probably have to rely on DNA tests. “There’s very little comfort but the agony of waiting is over and where I would say we draw comfort from is that…they died together. "They may have had a few moments of terror – hopefully not pain, hopefully it was quick for them – they died together. "Neither of them saw the other die a long lingering death, they both went together in a place they loved. "Even if we never find their bodies, their bodies are only the clothing of the spirit and the soul. "Their spirit and their souls will go on forever and initially they are in a place they called paradise - It’s remarkable isn’t it?”
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