Surfer tells of terrifying ordeal
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SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- An Australian surfer feared missing after a massive earthquake hit Indonesia has been found safe and well after a terrifying night on the open seas.
Marcus Keeshan, who runs the surf safari travel company Gaia, has told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that his boat was travelling just 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the epicenter, when the earthquake hit on Monday night.
He said that for two hours after the quake hit he and his friends were tossed around the boat as it sailed east from Simeulue Island to the Banyak Islands.
"We were down below in the saloon watching a movie, and we felt some very strange movement. For about two minutes the boat rose and fell really sharply," Keesham said.
"We went upstairs to ask the crew what was happening, and they said earthquake, they confirmed it straight away, earthquake. And we were obviously worried about a tsunami.
"The sea was flat, calm, nothing, so we went back below to keep watching the movie, and then about 20 minutes later the water just started rushing, like, with an incredible force, probably 10 or 15 knots of current moving in one direction," Keesham said.
"The boat was dragging anchor, the current moved 180-degree swing. And then it happened again."
Keesham told the ABC that the third time the current changed it rushed for about 20 minutes. In betweenm current changes, the sea would be "dead calm".
"We were getting washed around, and we were quite scared," he said.
Keesham, who had been missing since Monday night, contacted his family in Victoria state, Australia on Wednesday night.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that four Australians remained unaccounted for in the region hit by Monday's earthquake.
