‘I could hear screams, then a tremendous silence’

FORTY retirees enjoying their summer vacation at a seaside campground nestled under pine trees knew they had to move fast after Chile’s powerful earthquake struck.

They didn’t make it. The tsunami came in three waves, surging 200 meters into this Pacific Ocean resort town and dragging away the bus they’d piled into, hoping to get to high ground. Most of those inside were the retired Chileans, and only five of their bodies had been found by yesterday, firefighters and witnesses said.

Pelluhue’s horror underscored the destruction wrought by Saturday’s pre-dawn 8.8-magnitude quake, which killed at least 795 people and set off spates of looting in shattered towns without food, water or electricity.