Woman almost swept out to sea after mobility scooter hit by a giant wave
A woman taking her dog for a walk was almost swept out to sea when a huge wave knocked her from her mobility scooter.
Tina Thomas, 44, was out with her husband Ashley and dog Apollo while walking along Swansea Marina on Friday when water flooded over the walkway.
The strength of the wave knocked her and her husband out of the seats of their mobility scooters – as the couple had no idea the choppy water would be able to reach them.
The horrifying moment was captured on video, but Tina and Ashley have slammed the onlooker who filmed it and those who have left horrible comments after the clip was shared online.
Tina explained: ‘Last Christmas I lost my friend Rachel after she drowned in a car accident. As the wave hit and I was completely submerged underwater my first thought was “I’m going to drown like Rachel”.
‘I thought “I have got to keep my head up. As long as I keep my head I will be alright – anything else can be fixed”.
‘So then the wave receded but then a couple of seconds later I got drenched again and it was very scary.
‘I saw my husband’s scooter under another wave and I didn’t know if he was alive to be honest.
‘People quickly gathered round me and I asked if they knew where my husband was.’
Tina and Ashley both wanted to thank the people who helped them – including three off-duty doctors who happened to be at the scene.
Tina has functional neurological disorder, or FND, and her and her husband’s mobility scooters were damaged by the wave.
She said: ‘I’m paying for it monthly, but overall it’s going to cost about £5,000.
‘My husband’s cost about two and a half grand in total. It’s quite expensive.’
Discussing the clip of the incident, which was shared on TikTok, Tina said: ‘A lot of people have been making fun of me to be honest. They are basically saying that I deserved it.
‘Saying that I should have died and that I should have been swept out to sea.
‘Someone said they were gutted the video stopped because they wanted to see me swept out to sea.
‘The reason I am telling my story is because I want to make it clear to people that they need to be careful around waves like that because it can seem quite calm but then come out of nowhere.’
The couple also claim the person who filmed the video did not offer to help or see if they were OK afterwards.
Ashley, angry at the abusive comments directed towards his wife, added: ‘They need to get a life.
‘Would they laugh if it happened to a member of their family? If people want to be like that then I will leave them to it, karma will come to them.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.