The waves were coming tall and fast, and aftershocks continued to shake bits of concrete from the half-collapsed hotel. But para-glider Ng Kok Choong, 53, sat for hours in pitch darkness, risking his life to comfort a woman lying trapped under the rubble.

His courage left a deep impression on Belgian Francois de Neuville, 29, who together with Mr Ng rescued a mother and her daughter from a ruined hotel in the aftermath of last month's earthquake in Central Sulawesi.