Supermodel Petra Nemcova survived the horrifying Asian tsunami breaking her pelvis and losing a boyfriend.
25-year-old Petra and her 33-year-old boyfriend, fashion photographer Simon Atlee, were spending the holidays in a beachfront bungalow at the Thai resort of Khao Lak when the disaster happened.
This huge wave just pulled us out of the house, Nemcova told NY Daily News from her hospital bed in Thailand. It was so powerful I couldnt get up. I couldnt get out of it.
People were screaming and kids were screaming all over the place, screaming, Help, help. And after a few minutes, you didnt hear the kids anymore.
The model tried to get to the roof but before the couple could react a wall of water shredded their wooden bungalow and sucked them away. Lucky Petra was able to grasp a palm tree but had to hang on to it for eight hours, excruciated by the broken bones and the view of her vanishing boyfriend and dying people, before she was found by rescuers.
I was so broken, I couldnt walk, Nemcova said. There were so many people with horrible injuries, with blood everywhere. It was like a war movie.
The model-survivor was airlifted to an inland hospital, where doctors found she had a broken pelvis and serious internal injuries.
There might be pieces of bone stuck to my organs, said Nemcova, who was medicated with morphine but still agonized at her boyfriends disappearance.
Nemcova started dating Atlee, a handsome Englishman who shot all the pictures for her 2005 calendar, about two years ago, becoming a striking couple in the international fashion scene. According to Nemcovas friend, the sweethearts just wanted to take a break from their schedules and spend a couple of weeks together, scuba diving and relaxing on the beach.