An Oxford student who needed six operations after nearly dying in the tsunami now wants to raise money for the Thai island she watched being devastated.

Naomi Bowman, 21, a final year maths student at Pembroke College, was lying on the beach on the island of Koh Phi Phi when the tsunami struck.

She has spent more than a month in five hospitals -- both in Thailand and the UK -- being treated for broken ribs, infected cuts and lacerations all over her body, one of them eight inches long and three inches deep.

Doctors have told her it will be 18 months before she is healed.

She said: "It's still hard. There are images I can't get out of my head of the things I saw. There was so much pain."

Miss Bowman was lying on the beach listening to her personal stereo so didn't hear the screams around her.

"I started running when I saw the water but it was so fast it was quickly knee height and knocking people over.

"I was really frightened. A few seconds later, waves smashed into my back and took me under the water. "I was dragged under and was hit by broken wood, glass and metal travelling incredibly fast. I remember thinking if I kept getting hit, I'd be dead."

Eventually she ended up in a hut filled with debris and water up to her neck. She says she went cold as she checked her body for injuries and felt her entire hand slip inside a gash.

After two hours she pulled herself out and called for help. She was then moved to higher ground on a broken door which became a makeshift stretcher and she stayed there for what she thought was 12 hours.

"Every half an hour someone would shine a light in my face to check I was still alive," said Miss Bowman, who was visiting Thailand for a break before her finals.

She was airlifted to a hospital on the mainland before returning to the UK on January 15.

Now she wants to help the people left on the island who have lost everything and are trying to rebuild their lives.

"It's so frustrating that I can't go out and help in person," she said. To make matters worse, her boyfriend, a 30-year-old Thai called Theep who lives on the island cannot get a visa to visit her.

"The people who lost everything have still got to carry on with their lives and the Thai government has only given out grants of £30 per person.

"I want to raise funds to help these people, so I urge people to donate anything they can."

To donate to Naomi's appeal, e-mail her at naomi.bowman@pmb.ox.ac.uk. All money raised will go directly to the people on Koh Phi Phi island.