ANKARA: "A place like a paradise on earth turned into a hell in just one minute. It was a moment of incredible horror," a Turkish tourist in the Seychelles said Monday in the aftermath of huge waves triggered by a quake off Indonesia.

"I was sun-bathing on a lounge at the beach. The waves first began to slowly push the lounge. Then the water started retreating and I was able to see the inside the sea," Pinar Gorucuoglu told Anatolia news agency by telephone.

"After a minute, a pit hole opened in the sea and the retreating water ... waves the height of apartment blocks began to whirl like a tornado. "Everybody on the beach was yelling and running towards the hills. When I turned back for a moment I saw the giant waves swallowing everything on the shore... When the waves retreated there was nothing left," Gorucuoglu said.

The woman said British tourists saved the life of her seven-year-old son who was swimming in the7ea when the waves struck. She said she saw three dead people on the beach.

"When I arrived here I called this place a paradise on earth. Now it is a wreck," Gorucuoglu said. She explained that the group of tourists she was holidaying with had left their hotel and found refuge in bungalows on nearby hills. -AFP