Australians missing after Indonesian quake wave

Emergency officials say residents initially panicked and fled to the hills following the quake.

The Australian embassy in Indonesia is trying to make contact with a tourist boat thought to be in an area near where a powerful undersea earthquake struck off Sumatra on Tuesday morning.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) says there are between eight and 10 Australian surfers on board the boat off the Mentawai Islands.
The men are on board a traditional Indonesian-style wooden boat that is due to return to West Sumatra next week.
A DFAT spokeswoman says efforts to contact the boat have been hampered by poor telephone coverage.
The boat is not equipped with a satellite phone.
The undersea quake, which had a magnitude of at least 7.5, struck early on Tuesday morning.
Indonesian emergency officials are relying on two-way radios to gather information about damage and injuries
An Australian who works for a surf charter company in Indonesia says the waves have caused a serious boat crash in the Mentawai islands.
Jamie Gray, a tour operator, told ABC NewsRadio that his colleagues described a terrifying ordeal.
"The Midas, which was a boat with our clients on it, has collided with another boat called the Freedom due to a three-metre tsunami and that's knocked everybody off the boat," he said.
Residents reported shaking as far away as the West Sumatran provincial capital of Padang, but fears of widespread damage eased a few hours after the quake.
"Residents panicked and ran to the hills but now they are starting to come down. There's no report of casualties or damage," Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono said. (From ABC News)