Families of the dead used cooking utensils and even their bare hands to dig graves in the aftermath of a huge tidal wave in Sri Lanka, as rescuers searching through the debris uncovered another 2,480 bodies today, bringing the toll on the tropical island to 15,000.

MASSIVE waves triggered by earthquakes crashed into villages along a wide stretch of Sri Lankan coast yesterday, killing more than 4,500 people and displacing a million others, the prime minister's office said.

Massive waves triggered by earthquakes crashed into villages along a wide stretch of Sri Lankan coast today, killing more than 2,100 people and displacing a million others, the prime minister’s office said.