A relieved Herefordshire couple have been talking this week of their lucky escape from death, and a dramatic rescue by helicopter, after being caught up in the devastating Chinese earthquake that is predicted to have claimed 50,000 lives.
Retired bank manager Barry Jackson and his wife Christine, from Goodrich, near Ross-on-Wye, were among a party of Brits who clung to each other as the ground shook and the mountains started to crumble during a trip to see giant pandas at the Wolong Nature Reserve, which is in Wenchuan county, near the epicentre of the quake, which measured a whopping 7.9 on the Richter scale.
The Jacksons believe taking the three hour coach journey out of town to see the endangered animals, in the middle of their 16-day holiday helped save their own lives, as they were out in the open when the quake struck.
One of the Britons in the party was an environmental expert who recognised what was going on as an earthquake, and stopped people following their instinct to run towards the buildings.
Boulders the size of houses were sent rolling downhill towards the sanctuary in the valley bottom.
She spotted an area where the trees were not moving and urged them to stay still and wait for the quake to stop, but Mr and Mrs Jackson feared they would not get out alive.
“We did not know at that stage whether we would be safe so we just stood in a circle holding on to each other,” said Mr Jackson.
“The noise was horrendous and it looked like the mountains were crumbling.
“I did not feel well at all. My legs turned to jelly and it was virtually impossible to stand up. I don’t know how long it lasted but we just held on to each other until it stopped.”
Surviving the initial quake was just the start of what became a nightmare journey back home.
Debris blocked the route but the Chinese helped the visitors get back to their tour bus.
They then used a bulldozer from the sanctuary to clear several miles of damaged road so the bus could get back to the hotel complex and Mrs Jackson said she was “humbled” by how the locals often put the tourists’ welfare ahead of their own tragedies.
Many of the buildings near where the Jacksons were staying were flattened and, although still standing, their own hotel was deemed unsafe, leaving them and their travel companions sleeping on the tour bus for three nights. Mr Jackson says what followed was like a scene from an action film as they were eventually airlifted out of the area by Chinese military helicopter.
“As I ran under the rotor blades with the Chinese soldiers shouting ‘go, go, go’ I did think ‘I don’t want to be doing this too often’,” said 68-year-old Mr Jackson.
“It was all very dramatic, like a scene from a film. But we were the lucky ones.”
The hour-long flight out of the region highlighted the true extent of the damage. Mr Jackson said: “It was very distressing and difficult to take in.
“We were told one bus had been hit by a landslide.
“That could have been us if the timing had been any different.
“We were very lucky to be in a place of comparative safety at the time.
“We feel very lucky and very grateful to the Chinese people.”
Even when they reached safety the Jacksons were thrown out of their hotel bed by an aftershock and they said they were glad to be flown home at the weekend.
Now safely home in Goodrich the Jacksons urged Britons to help the Chinese who are in mourning for the 50,000 predicted to have died.
“All we can think about now are the Chinese people who were left behind. The local people who could not get on the helicopter. We do not know if disease has set in or if they have run out of food.”
State television says five members of staff at the reserve died in the quake, but all 19 Britons escaped.
