600 tourists stuck in tsunami's path after missing sprint to Hawaii cruise ship

British holidaymakers have told of “scary sirens” and “emergency warnings” as they raced back to their cruise ship following fears of a tsunamiin Hawaii.

A tsunami hit coastal areas of Russia’s Kuril Islands and Japan’s large northern island of Hokkaido after a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Russia early Wednesday. Warnings are also in place for Alaska, Hawaii and other coasts south toward New Zealand. The Japan Meteorological Agency said a tsunami as high as 2ft had been detected as the waves moved south along the Pacific coast from Hokkaido to Tokyo Bay. Officials urged caution, saying that bigger waves could come later.

Sirens have been blaring in Honolulu as residents were urged to higher ground. “Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property,” the warning stated. It comes after girl, 3, was found dead on a popular Greece tourist beach by a horrified passer-by.

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And Rachel Burrows, from Macclesfield, is among the tourists to have been caught up in the panic having been to the island on a cruise ship. They rushed back to the ship which left for safer waters - but 600 holidaymakers were left behind in the emergency.

She told BBC Breakfast: “We were on a tour around the volcanic area of the Big Island. Towards the end of the tour, as we were luckily heading towards the cruise ship, we started getting emergency warnings on our phones. The first one was 'tsunami you are in immediate danger, you need to move away from the coast to higher ground'.”

She told how they began to realise how dangerous was the situation. She said: “We started getting more through saying times when the tsunami would hit.

“He was going to stop at a chocolate factory that is famous on the island. As we pulled up to it, the traffic on the island was getting really bad which he said was unusual. As we pulled up to the factory the shop owner said we need to go.”

And she added: “It was quite scary because all the sirens started going off in the area. We got off the tour bus and everyone was running trying to get on the cruise ship, because we needed to get out to sea.

“We were luckily some of the last ones to get on the cruise ship. Then we could see a lot of other people getting dropped off and lining up, but they didn't make it. They were then told to get to higher ground on shore.”

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said data from Midway Atoll, which is part of the way between Japan and Hawaii, measured tsunami waves from peak to trough of 6ft.

He said waves hitting Hawaii could be bigger or smaller and it was too early to tell how large they would be. A tsunami of that size would be akin to a 3ft wave riding on top of surf, he said.

He said a wave that size could move cars and throw fences around. “It can dislodge trees, that’s why you can’t just be out there. The impact is at great speed,” Green said. “Any structure that gets loose and strikes the individual could take them out. And people can drown quite easily with the force of that kind of wave.”

Green said Black Hawk helicopters have been activated and high-water vehicles were ready to go in case authorities need to rescue people. “But please do not put yourself in harm’s way,” he said.