Nemcova recounts tsunami ordeal

NEW YORK: Petra Nemcova talks about her harrowing experience and the death of her boyfriend, Simon Atlee, in the pounding waters of the Asian tsunami, in an interview to air on ABC.

"There are lots of things which I would love to tell him, but in some way, I also feel that I lost the person closest to me," the 25-year-old Czech supermodel tells Diane Sawyer on Primetime Live, which aired on Wednesday.

"And I got a second chance to live. So in a way I feel that I live for both of us ... and I will do my best."

Nemcova and Atlee, a 33-year-old British fashion photographer, were vacationing at the resort of Phuket in Thailand when the waves swept through their beach hut on Dec. 26. Nemcova was pulled away from Atlee and eventually clung to a palm tree for nearly eight hours before being rescued.

Officials in Thailand said Tuesday that Atlee's body had been found and identified on March 3.

Dr. Elton Strauss, chief of orthopedic trauma and adult reconstruction at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, said Nemcova fractured every bone in her pelvis and is "truly a miracle person. I don't know how she survived." -- AP