A FORMER teacher at Okehampton College has been hailed as a hero for helping with the rescue mission after being caught up in the terrifying Indian Ocean Tsunami. Sasha Metters from Cheriton Bishop explained how her brother Tom Metters, who had been teaching in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the last few months, had a lucky escape when he was on one of the islands worst hit by the tidal devastation. Now Tom, 25, has returned from Thailand and is back at work in Jakarta. He was on Ko Phi Phi island in Thailand when the wave struck on Boxing Day, and remained there for three and a half days to aid the rescue effort. Sasha said: ?The wave hit him directly. Thankfully, he is okay, save for a couple of broken ribs and lacerations, which have unfortunately become infected. ?His life was saved by running when he heard the bang of the wave, thinking it was a bomb.? Sasha said her brother had been walking back up the beach when the wave struck. She said he told her he did not look back and ran straight for a tree. He was holding on to two fellow tourists? children at the time, and had helped them to reach safety. Sasha said her brother told her what was even worse than the wave going over him was the force of it coming back out. She said the family endured an anxious Boxing Day having not been able to get through to Tom or the Foreign Office helpline, but were relieved to see a glimpse of him on live Sky News footage of the disaster. ?It was wonderful to see he was all right, We felt ecstatic even though we couldn?t speak to him,? said Sasha. ?In my mind he is a hero. I am very proud of him. With four others, he was organising rescue missions, putting his own life at risk and assisting the Army for three and a half days. ?He was one of the last four tourists to leave the island ? the army airlifted them off as a thank you for all the work.? Tom had told his sister how among the tasks he had helped with were taking casualties to helicopters, moving bodies, even assisting where he could in giving basic first aid, without any medical supplies, resourcefully using t-shirts as makeshift bandages. The sights he had to endure and the tasks he had to do, were something no 25-year-old should ever have to do, she said. Sasha said Tom had told her ?heart-breaking stories? of some of the difficult dilemmas he faced at every turn during the relief effort. ?He had to try and sort out the injured to be taken by helicopter for treatment ? quite often he had to separate children from whatever family were left. ?These children might have just lost their mother but they had to leave them on the beach because they had only minor injuries while their father or relatives had more life-threatening injuries.? Sasha said the family was particularly worried because Tom is diabetic and yet with little or no insulin, he worked tirelessly for three days to help others. The family finally heard from Tom after a couple of days, when he called them from a telephone to let them know he was okay. He was able to explain to his parents that his mobile phone had been washed into the sea, which was why no-one had been able to phone him. Tom was born and bred in Okehampton and after completing university, went straight to work as a science teacher at Okehampton College. He was only staying at the Princess Hotel for a few days of luxury over the Christmas period, while travelling on a three-month trek through Thailand on a break from teaching at a school in Jakarta. The family hopes to see Tom again this summer when his two-year placement at the school is up. Sasha said Tom had now flown back to Jakarta and was teaching at the school and trying to get back to normal and present a strong face for the children, many of whose families would have been affected by the disaster. She said he was also trying to do what he could as a teacher to raise funds to help those who like him were spared when the gigantic wave hit.