It was supposed to be a relaxing holiday in Vanuatu, a group of islands in the South Pacific. Both my wife, Angela, and I have stressful jobs, so we were ready for a good rest ............ a couple of days spent scuba diving, we were on an early-evening flight back to the capital, Port-Vila, in a small plane with ten others.

About a.................of a hour after we were supposed to land,

Angela and I began to .................. that something was wrong. The plane had been descending slowly for about 20 mintues.

We kept looking outside to try to discern the lights of Port-Vila, but everything was pitch ............. , and we were now flying into a storm.

Suddenly, without .......... , we hit the ocean with a sickening lurch

and were ........... forwards in our seats.

The nose of the aircraft was driven into the waves, water burst in from the cockpit, and the cabin began .......... up.

Angela and I were only one seat away from the emergency ................ , but by the time we got our seatbelts off, the water was already up to our knees - we didn't have much time.

I reached over for the door and .......... it open.

Then I grabbed Angela and dived out of the plane, which was ........... rapidly, its lights disappearing in the dark.

There were two passengers struggling in the water beside us, Trevor May and Frank Murphy - all the .......... seemed to be gone.

Luckily, the water was very salty and comparatively easy to swin in, despite the strong current. It was also war - about 28 degrees celcius - but it ............... cooler as time wore on.

............. of us four survivors could see each other clearly.

My wife was only a metre away from me, and all I could ..........  out was the whiteness of her face.

Every time she looked the other ............. , I would worry that she had disappeared and call out: "Where are you? Where are you?"

We could see some lights in the far ............ and agreed to head for them, but we soon found ourselves swimming into the current

and had to ............ direction.

We were constantly ........... by jelly-fish, every sting like a cigarette burn, and

the possibility of sharks also ............... my mind, though I didn't want to frighten the others by saying anything about it. Instead I kept calling out: "Come on, the lights are getting closer!"

Suddenly a rain squall came through, and we .......... contact with Trevor.

That was a terrible moment, and a ...........  of utter helplessness descended on us when we understood it would be impossible to find him.