Islanders caught in Morocco earthquake during holiday

So far the quake is thought to have killed about 2,500 people.

The couple arrived in Marrakesh on Wednesday after Mrs Wyatt surprised her husband with the birthday trip.

They were having dinner in a restaurant in the medina, the old part of the city, when the quake hit at about 11pm.

The epicentre of the quake was 45 miles southwest of Marrakesh.

‘It was absolutely horrific,’ she said. ‘We thought it was a bomb at first.

‘Everyone was running and screaming, people were falling over things. Everyone was running for the exit but we couldn’t get out.

‘Luckily there was a couple next to us and the man said “I think it’s an earthquake. Stay where you are because there’s going to be an aftershock”.

‘There was a fleeting moment when we thought that this was it. We wrapped our arms around each other and just held each other.’

They were fortunate that the restaurant had no roof.

‘It was a really big restaurant. There were about 200 people, but it had no roof so things were flying off the walls.

‘We made our way out and we had to climb over rubble. The walk home was terrible. The ground was shaking so much.’

While the epicentre of the quake was in the remote southern area of the country, Marrakesh was still badly affected.

But the couple’s boutique hotel was a relatively new building and survived. After a couple of hours they were allowed to return to their room.

‘We eventually got into the hotel at about half past three but we didn’t really sleep.

‘There were about 20 aftershocks that were about 3 or 4.5.

‘We slept in our clothes in case we had to run.

‘Because they’ve not had one in about 60 years the staff were all really frightened. But they all came back to work on Saturday, bless them.

‘We were really, really lucky but what’s gone on in the Atlas mountains was really terrible. We feel really sorry for the people of Morocco.’

They did not go far from the hotel after the quake, other than revisiting the medina to look at the damage, which Mrs Wyatt said was significant.

That was when they realised that a mosque tower had collapsed onto a spot where they had been standing during a tour on Wednesday.

They tried to book an earlier flight home but the earliest was leaving Morocco today and they were already booked to fly home last night.

Despite the horrifying experience, they intend to return to the country.

‘We’ll come back.

‘This hasn’t happened in 60 years.’

Mrs Wyatt said that she expected the full impact of what they had been through would hit them when they returned home.

But the experience had made them stronger as a couple and she said she could not have got through it without her husband.

‘We definitely know that in a crisis we are both there for each other.’

They are due back in the island today and cannot wait to see their children Monty and Henry.

‘We have been able to speak to our eldest Edward in New Zealand but nothing can replace a good cuddle.’