Indo Surf Boat Safe and Sound

A news item on the seven o'clock morning television news in Australia reported that Chris Scurrah, Aki and all eight Australian clients and three other crew members had been rescued and were safe.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the death toll from the tsunami created by the quake stands at 108 with more than 500 missing and reports of further casualties expected.

The quake, which occurred at 10.42pm local time and measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale caused a large tsunami to swamp settlements along the west coast of North and South Pagai, the two southernmost islands of the Mentawais.

Most of the dead are reported to be women and children from the South Pagai village of Betu Monga. The charter boat, the Southern Cross, had gone missing from the area, but the crew and clients were rescued overnight, according to reports.

A former client of the Southern Cross, Jan Rassmussen, a South African living in Melbourne, Australia (where "Scuzz" is from) told Wavescape: "07h00 news reports they have been rescued and all ok."

According to ABC News, the Macaronis surf camp on North Pagai island was "rendered inoperable" according to an official press release by World Surfaris.

Reports via Facebook from a surfer at the resort said that all villas had been "wiped out" by the tsunami. The report said that people described a three-metre-high tsunami crashing through the resort and boats knocking together, then bursting into flames.

Guests and crew from one boat were washed into the jungle and took more than an hour to find their way back to the beach, the staff member, Tom Plummer, said.

"There was a lot of debris floating in the water, including bar stools and other pieces of furniture from Macaronis Resort," he told ABC News.

Hardimansyah, an official with the regional branch of the Department of Fisheries, told Reuters earlier: "Of the 200 people in that village, only 40 have been found. 160 are still missing, mostly women and children."

"We have people reporting to the security post here that they could not hold onto their children, that they were swept away."

The quake, which occurred at 3.61 degrees South and 99.93 degrees East about 80kms off the west coast South Pagai (where Thunders is), created a large wall of white water to sweep into the west coast of both islands, including North Pagai (where Maccaronis is).

Boat operators in Padang, which lies on the mainland behind the Mentawais Island chain, apparently felt little more than a tidal push, though later reports suggested that incoming skippers found it impossible to enter due to damage to the entrance of the river-based port.

According to a journey manifest, obtained by news agency AAP, there were eight other Australians on board: Clifford Humphries, Gary Mountford, Christopher Papallo, Alexander McTaggart, Neil Cox, Jeffrey Annesley, Stephen Reynolds and Colin Steell.

According to Kiwi website www.stuff.co.nz, Aucklander Michael Matthew, who operates charter boat Kuda Laut, said that that a three metre wall of water flooded Maccas, ripped two vessels off their anchor and washed surfers into the jungle.

Jamie Gray, a spokesman for The Perfect Wave Surf Travel, apparently said that the Midas and Freedom collided and one burst into flames, while the surfers were washed into the jungle. Some surfers were apprently forced to climb trees to escape.

Gray apparently told Radio 3AW in Australia that Tom Plummer - who heads SurfAid International - had sent his boat Dabora to pick-up passengers who had fled the collision.

"By the looks of things, they've all been sort of washed into the jungle area and they've all climbed trees."

All clients and staff of the Maccas surf camp were accounted for, according to other reports.