The parents of a barmaid killed in the tsunami disaster today spoke for the first time of their grief.

Holly Riddle, 21, was swept away by a giant wave as she and her family were holidaying in Thailand.

Holly, her mother Sally, father Nicholas and sister Maisie, seven, were on Crab Island, Phuket, when the disaster happened.

Mrs Riddle said she was having breakfast with her daughters when they saw the wave approaching and they tried to climb on to the roof of the hotel.

She said: "I remember seeing Holly jump on to the corner of a roof just a few feet away from us.

"I don't know where she got the strength from because she was only a small girl.

"I tried to reach out to her but I couldn't. I was saying Love you,' and she was saying Help, what shall I do?'

"Then the water must have just swept her away. It was like a nightmare or a disaster movie although it was really happening."

Mrs Riddle said later they found Holly's body nearby.

She said: "She looked absolutely beautiful, as if there was nothing wrong with her.

"I remember wiping her face with a flannel and saying, Is she really dead?'

"Someone felt her pulse and said she was."

Mr Riddle spent two agonising days apart from his family before they were reunited.

He said: "I was playing golf around the corner when it happened and I ended up in a hospital at the opposite end of the island to the others.

"There was obviously no communication so I did not know what had happened. I could see how much devastation there was around and it was awful not knowing.

"We finally got back together two days later. This is the most devastating thing to happen to us in our lives."

The family is from Nutbourne, near Chichester, and staff at the three pubs where Holly worked in nearby Emsworth and Southbourne have been too upset to talk about her death.

Villagers described her as a lovely girl and were shocked by what had happened.

Mr Riddle had been playing golf with his friend Bill Rea, 42, from the same village.

Mr Rea's wife Pippa, 40, is missing and he is now back home with daughter Claudia, seven.

The two families were among 36 people from the village and nearby Emsworth who were on holiday together in Phuket.

It emerged today that another member of the ill-fated group may also be missing.

Holly was training to be a teacher and loved to travel, her family said. She was planning to go to Brazil to teach.

Her parents are considering an appeal to raise money and build a new school in Thailand in their daughter's name as a tribute to her.

The loss of the two women from Nutbourne followed confirmation of the death of David Page, 44, from Graffham, near Petworth, who last week was said to be missing, presumed dead.

Mr Page's partner Sharon Howard survived but her son Taylor, six, died.

Her other son Mason, eight, is missing, presumed dead.