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The last time Jai Breisch saw his sister, she was warning him about the tsunami bearing down on their beachfront hotel in Khao Lak, Thailand.
Waking him up, 15-year-old Kali shouted, "Let's get out of here!" But before the siblings could scramble out of the way, the massive wave hit the back of their bungalow and washed the two away, according to a family friend in Utah who spoke to Jai.
"He didn't see Kali after that," said Charlene Edmunds, director of community relations at Jordan Valley Hospital in West Jordan, where the teens' father, Stuart Breisch, practices emergency medicine.
Breisch, his 18-year-old daughter, Shonti, a student at the University of Puget Sound in Washington state, and his fiancée, Sally Nelson, of San Diego, were having breakfast nearby and escaped injury.
On Tuesday, 16-year-old Jai was recovering from a shoulder that separated when he was struck by a tree and a severe leg laceration at a Bangkok hospital with Nelson at his side. Breisch and Shonti remained in Khao Lak, searching for Kali.
The search is a terrible twist in what began as a long-planned family vacation. As they search, the Breisches know their loss is only one of many.
"Shonti said there are dead bodies everywhere," said her aunt, Joni Glynn, of Salt Lake City. "She's encountered people who are the only ones left in their family."
The southern province of Phang Nga - its beach resorts packed with foreign tourists - was the area of Thailand hit hardest by the waves, according to The Associated Press. Reuters reported that the bodies of 770 Thais and foreign tourists have been recovered at Khao Lak. About 200 bodies, including many children, were lain at a makeshift morgue at the Buddhist Rasneramith temple in Khao Lak, the wire service said.
Breisch, whose family had been staying at the Khao Lak Emerald Resort, searched without success at the temple for his daughter, Glynn said.
News of the family's tragedy hit hard in Utah.
Jolisa Catmull, chief nursing officer at Jordan Valley, where Breisch has worked since its opening 21 years ago, said the hospital has been inundated with calls from other medical centers and fire departments, where the doctor is well-known and well-respected.
"People are very sad," Catmull said. "It's hard to be this far away from them and not be able to help them."
Students and teachers at Skyline High, where Kali is a sophomore and Jai is a junior, also were overwhelmed by the events halfway around the world.
English teacher Judy Stone said Kali earns straight A's. "She's an excellent student and popular," she said.
Rachel Webb, a fellow junior who has known Jai since elementary school, said her classmate is a "great guy" and a talented guitar player. Aaron McMurray, a junior at Skyline who plays in the Under the Garage Band with Jai, also praised his friend's musical skills.
The Breisches left Dec. 19 for Thailand, McMurray said. "Then all the sudden, we heard they got hit by a tidal wave," he said.
As of late Tuesday, the death toll from the tsunami had risen to approximately 57,000. Devastation is widespread, but the Breisches have found help.
Shonti told her aunt that Khao Lak residents have been supportive, offering rides and clothing. Missionaries with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are providing shelter. Jai is being well-cared for at the Bangkok hospital, Glynn said.
The Breisches are also lending a hand, she said, adding that her brother-in-law has rescued four or five people. That doesn't surprise Edmunds.
"If I know Stu, he's not only looking for her [Kali,] but he's also not walking past injured people," she said. "He's helping them."
Glynn said Breisch - who was widowed when her sister, Karen, died in 1992 - had been planning the vacation for 18 months. Described as a spiritual man, he was looking forward to spending time with his family and visiting temples in southeastern Asia.
Jai was hesitant about the trip, Glynn said, because he had suffered a broken neck in a rollover car accident in October. In the end, he went and suffered a second brush with death, she said.
Also accompanying the family was Nelson, a psychotherapist and author. Nelson wrote Night Wings, A Soulful Dreaming and Writing Practice, a book that includes writing exercises and information on how other writers have used their dreams in their work.
According to a Web biography by her publisher, she has a doctorate in clinical psychology and a master's degree in humanistic and Jungian psychology. In addition to being a a licensed clinical psychologist and family therapist, she is certified in biofeedback and hypno- therapy.
Glynn is sending pictures of Kali to the LDS mission president in Bangkok so missionaries can keep an eye out for her. She is unsure when Breisch will return to Utah.
"He will not leave without his daughter," she said.
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