Shimla, Jan. 13: An airman?s wife who clambered on to high ground with her two small sons as the air base in Car Nicobar was swept away by the tsunami on December 26 is among a dozen Himachalis who have made it safely back home from several ravaged areas.

As their families rejoiced, gloom wrapped the houses of about a hundred others who worked in the tsunami-hit areas and whose whereabouts are still unknown.

They can take heart from Madhu Sharma?s story. The 34-year-old was alone in their quarters at the air base with two school-going sons, Vishal and Shubham, as husband Ved Prakash had gone to Varanasi on work.

Suddenly, the house started shaking and the utensils tumbled off the shelves.

?I guessed it was an earthquake. I grabbed my sons, who had dived under the bed, and came out of the house. People were running and did not answer my questions, as they did not know Hindi. The staircase of our house crashed and the land cracked with a loud noise. Water shot out of the crack and rose as high as 20 metres.

?The deadly waves were running after us. We ran and ran and continued running once we came upon the runway of the air force station. We jumped over many walls and suffered minor injuries,? said Madhu.

Clutching Shubham in one arm and Vishal?s hands in the other, she clambered on to high ground, a place called Kankana. They were rescued the next day and taken to Chennai, where an anxious Ved Prakash received them.

Now, they have returned home to Badsar, 150 km from Shimla, in Hamirpur district.

Three students and a teacher of Nahan town, 108 km from Shimla, had a lucky escape in Chennai, where they had gone to participate in an international quiz contest. Around 8.30 am on December 26, they trooped to Marina beach as the students wanted to go for a swim in a bathing area. But they were turned back as it would open only at 9.

?We were near the Marina beach when the sea suddenly became violent. The waves roared in and touched the road. Several people were washed away in front of our eyes. We took a bus straight to Chennai station,? recalled Nardev, who was accompanying the students.

Sumer Nath Awasthi, secretary of the Kullu Red Cross Society, Daman Sondhi and three others were saved by the tantrums of 10-year-old Mohit. The group, in Chennai for a wedding, was on the beach when Mohit wanted to ride a see-saw. Since there was none nearby, they had to leave the beach. ?We were buying tickets when people started running. We saw the waves kill hundreds. The beach was just 500 metres away from us,? said Sondhi.