A British woman who survived the Boxing Day tsunami has escaped death for a second time after being airlifted to safety from a surfing resort destroyed by the Indonesian earthquake, which has claimed at least 620 lives.

Jo-Anne Wau, 27, is one of three British citizens and 12 foreign nationals picked up from Lagundri Bay on the south coast of the remote Indonesian island of Nias in a helicopter chartered by the foreign offices of Britain and Sweden. The Foreign Office said that there were still between five and ten British tourists missing in the region.

The total death toll rose again today with more bodies being pulled from the ruins of the island's main town of Gunungsitoli as the rescue effort, which has been hindered by the devastated infrastructure, got into full swing.

Ms Wau's mother Annette Windle was today told that her daughter, who had lived on the island for four years with her husband Robin where they run a backpackers' hostel, was safe and well.

Her father Stewart and brother Matthew Windle, 25, were about to board a plane at Manchester Airport when they heard the good news.

Mr Windle said he did not know how contact had been made but added: “The most important thing is that they’re okay.”

Mrs Windle told ITV’s Calendar News: “They have not slept a wink. They’ve been out in the open. They’ve managed to get a tent from somewhere which actually leaked. At least they had cover."

Swedish envoy Lennart Linner said that group, which also included two Swedes, two French, an American, two Germans, and two Canadians, had been sleeping outside in the aftermath of Monday's 8.7 magnitude earthquake.

Relief workers were continuing to assess the devastation on the island which was just beginning to recover after the December tragedy.

Following the Boxing Day catastrophe Mrs Windle helped her daughter raise money for the relief effort and travelled to the island to "get the rebuilding process started".

Only last week the final touches were being put to the village school.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said efforts were continuing to rescue the British citizens listed as missing" "We are doing everything we can."

About a third of Gunungsitoli, on the east coast of Nias, was flattened by the earthquake, with the death toll today estimated at 620 and rising. Another 15 people were killed on neighbouring Simeulue island and nine in an area that includes the smaller Banyak Islands.

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