THE FAMILY of a Merseyside university graduate have spoken of their fears for her safety after she survived the Asian tidal wave which claimed the lives of 10,000 people.

Amy Harding was not killed when the tsunami struck because she was scuba diving deep beneath sea level when it hit the waters above her.

But she had to spend last night stranded in darkness on a Thai island mountainside after scrambling to safety having managed to swim to shore.

Her family, from Neston, lost contact with her yesterday evening after she sent a series of fraught text messages.

The last message said she was scared but would risk climbing down the mountain to seek help at dawn.

The 24-year-old diving instructor, who fears her Israeli boyfriend, Evya, is dead, had taken a group out when they became churned up in a massive undercurrent as the tsunami hit.

She described the terrifying experience, and her feelings at surveying the devastation that hit the island of Phi Phi, in messages to her brother in Neston.

Trainee accountant Mike Harding, 27, first heard of the disaster when he noticed his mobile phone had received a text message from his sister, sent at 7.10am UK time - 2pm Thai time - yesterday.

It read: "ISLAND HIT BY TIDAL WAVE. AM OK. WAS DIVING. CAUGHT IN MAJOR CURRENT, PART OF ISLAND DESTROYED. NOT SEEN EVYA. SAT ON A HOTEL ROOF WITH OCEAN EITHER SIDE. AM OK THOUGH. X"

Mr Harding, who is spending Christmas at home with his parents, retired accountant Frank, 78, and Lis Harding, 62, last night told of his family's agonising wait for further news.

He said: "I got the first message after we'd had breakfast at about 10am.

"I didn't read the whole text, I just read the word tidal wave and I phoned her back straight away. "I was in a bit of a panic. I asked her 'How are you?' She was very shaken, she said they'd managed to scramble up the side of the mountain when the water subsided.

"She says the island is destroyed. All the buildings have been damaged, and the school has gone. She thinks the tourism industry there has been ruined."

He added: "She was diving with her class and they didn't have any warning at all. The wave just came at them.

"They were caught in currents but were able to get on to a hotel roof.

"As far as I know, a lot of buildings were devastated. She's also lost contact with her boyfriend and is very worried about him.

"I didn't know whether to tell my parents, but she said: 'Haven't you heard about it on the news?'

"I'd only just got up and I hadn't realised the full extent of what had happened.

"I called mum and dad together and told them, they were both very upset.

"We are all really concerned, because, although she says she is safe, she is in total darkness on the side of a mountain.

"We don't know what supplies she has got and it doesn't sound like they have managed to get any planes to the island yet to get people out."

In a second message sent at 10.17am UK time (5.17pm Thai time) Miss Harding told her family that she loved them. She wrote: "THINK WE'LL STAY UP HERE OVERNIGHT AND GET BITTEN TO DEATH INSTEAD. SO WORRIED ABOUT EVYA.

"NEVER SEEN SUCH A MESS. NO TOURISM HERE NOW. AT LEAST I'M SAFE UP HERE. LOVE YOU ALL."

IN A third message at 3.50pm (10.50pm Thai time) the last before her family lost touch with her last night, Miss Harding said she was preparing to risk climbing back down the mountain to seek help at dawn.

She wrote: "I'M SO WORRIED, SO SCARED. I GUESS THEY'LL EVACUATE THE ISLAND - DON'T KNOW HOW - YOU CAN'T EVEN WALK ON THE STREETS. THEY'VE COLLAPSED.

"HERE TILL DAYLIGHT AND THEN RISK GOING DOWN. I'M SO SCARED AND WORRIED ABOUT EVYA."

Mr Harding jnr said: "It's awful not knowing what is happening. We are just sitting by the phone because there is nothing else we can do.

"She is a very strong swimmer and an accomplished diver, which I guess is how she managed to swim to shore.

"But who knows what it will be like when they try to get down?

"I've told her to save her phone battery so we are just communicating by text now.

"It's not exactly what you want to be going through at Christmas. "We just wish she was here with us." Miss Harding, a former pupil at Neston High school and Woodfall junior school on Wirral, arrived in Thailand on March 7.

She qualified as a diving instructor in June on the north easterly Thai island of Tao, near Ko Phang Nan and Ko Samui.

She then moved on to Ko Phi Phi near the islands of Phuket, and Krabi, where she met her boyfriend.

The island paradise, also known as "James Bond Island", lies off the south west coast of Thailand, and was the setting for Alex Garland's hit 1997 novel and film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, The Beach.

Miss Harding gained a distinction in a Masters degree in International Public Relations from Cardiff University last year, after getting a class 2.1 BA Honours in Sociology from Birmingham University.

She is planning to forge a career in public relations.

LAST night her brother said she had been having the "time of her life" in Thailand before yesterday.

He said: "She was absolutely loving it, she had met Evya a few months ago and decided to stay out there over Christmas with him."

He paid tribute to his sister's strength of character, but said the family are concerned how she will survive if she is not rescued soon. He said: "She is amazing, really strong-minded and full of character - we are always arguing about things.

"She's the type of person who will be rallying people together to get them organised and trying to keep people's spirits up.

"At least we hope so. It must be horrendous - we don't know who she is with or how much food they have got or anything.

"We keep trying the Foreign Office but the lines are jammed."

Miss Harding's father, Frank, spoke of the moment he heard of his only daughter's plight.

He said: "We hadn't switched any radios or television on, and the first we knew was when Michael showed us the text message on his phone when we got up this morning.

"She hasn't seen her boyfriend, an Israeli she met out there who is also a teacher.

"He was probably in the water too, but she hasn't been able to find out what happened to him."

Her mother, Lis, told the Daily Post: "We've not been able to get in touch with the Foreign Office. "We want to be able to tell them what is happening. I do not know what to do, because whenever I phone it keeps saying it's busy, and to please phone again later.

"People are telling me to stay positive, if she has survived the earthquake and the tidal wave, then we just have to pray she survives tonight and is rescued. "I hope there is a group of them, but we know Evya is not with her. It's got worse as the day's gone on. We just want to know if they're putting any planes on to bring them back."