A TEN-YEAR-OLD girl and her teenage cousin - who were hailed as heroes after nursing victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami - have returned home to a huge welcome.

Cherise Watson became a national hero when The Northern Echo told how she had bandaged battered and bleeding survivors after the huge wave struck her Thailand hotel.

Yesterday, speaking from her home in Darlington, Cherise and her 14-year-old cousin, Liam Fleming, recounted the horrors they had witnessed and said they were glad to be safely back in the North-East.

The pair were in the paradise resort of Patong with their grandparents, Pam and Kenny Metcalfe, when the wave struck, at about 10am on Boxing Day.

They heard an explosion from their hotel room - caused when the wave struck a power plant - then watched as the sea swallowed the hotel garden and swamped the three swimming pools.

Mrs Metcalfe, 58, said: "We looked outside, and where there had been a garden there was a river.

"On the other side the hotel pools had gone. People were panicking and shouting to get up higher. There were many people bleeding."

Liam, of Lismore Drive, Darlington, said: "It was horrible. People were floating in the water and cars were banging against the hotel. We looked outside and felt so lucky to survive and felt sorry for the people who were floating and injured."

The family started ripping up bedsheets and rolling up strips for make-shift bandages, and when the water subsided they went downstairs to the hotel foyer where they tended to injured survivors.

Cherise said: "We spent about an hour and a half helping people, bringing them water and putting bandages on them. There were thousands who were injured."

Liam added: "We just went round trying to help anyone we could. I felt sick."

Ambulances took the most seriously injured away, while the dead were carried outside.

Both Liam and Cherise said they had suffered flashbacks, but considered themselves very lucky.

After the disaster, the family were evacuated to a hill and later to an inland hotel where they slept in a conference hall.

Mrs Metcalfe said a string of lucky coincidences had allowed them to escape the brunt of the tsunami.

On Christmas Eve, they had taken a boat trip to the island of Phi Phi. Two days later it was completely swamped when the wave struck.

The day the tsunami struck, the family had been planning to go to the beach - but Cherise had been in a bad mood because she had wanted to watch DVDs instead.

Mrs Metcalfe said: "We are so grateful our time wasn't up. All these circumstances came together to keep us safe. We are glad to be alive."

Back in Darlington yesterday, Cherise's mother, Trudy Watson, 29, plastered the house in Farrer Street with "welcome home" banners and balloons.

She said: "I am so thankful they are all right. I couldn't stop worrying until they got off the plane back home."

Mrs Metcalfe paid tribute to her grandchildren. She said: "They were so brave, I am very proud of them."

The children each donated 1,000baht (£13) to a relief fund in Thailand.

Liam, a pupil at Haughton Community School, had his 14th birthday two days after the tsunami struck.

The family are hosting a party on Friday for Cherise and Liam to celebrate their return.

Cherise, a pupil at Corporation Road Primary School, has a six-year-old brother, Marcus, and a three-year-old sister, Shania.

She first went on holiday with her grandparents in September 2001 - a week after the World Trade Centre buildings, in New York, were destroyed by terrorists.