LONDON -- A supermodel who was vacationing at a resort in Thailand this past weekend is recovering in a hospital.

Her boyfriend's agent said 25-year-old Petra Nemcova is recovering from a shattered hip and internal injuries. The British tabloid The Sun reported that she clung to a tree for eight hours to keep from washing away in a massive tsunami.

But the fate of her boyfriend, photographer Simon Atlee, is unknown. He is listed as missing, according to his agent.

The agent said the couple was vacationing in the Thai resort of Phuket when the waves swept over them Sunday.

Nemcova has appeared in magazines including Sports Illustrated, Marie Claire and Vogue. She has also modeled for Victoria's Secret.

Dramatic Images

From NBC News and the Associated Press, we have new images of the South Asian tsunami disaster.

Update: Latest News On Tsunami Damage

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35 AP Images: Tsunami Damage

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Images: Tsunami Strikes Malaysia
Video: Tsunami Strikes Malaysia

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Images: Beach Town Destroyed In Sri Lanka
Video: Beach Town Destroyed In Sri Lanka

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Images: Rooftop Camera At Thai Beach Resort

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Anatomy Of A Tsunami

There is no known way to stop the massive wall of water known as a tsunami, but early warnings are possible.

Images: Anatomy Of Tsunami

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Anatomy Of A Tsunami

A special system of buoys monitor the giant waves in the Pacific Ocean, but there's no similar system in the Indian Ocean.

Before the waves actually hit, American scientists debated for more than two hours: had the huge earthquake in the Indian Ocean spawned a tsunami?

Even if it had, there was another problem. The countries in the region have no warning systems.

Often called a tidal wave, a tsunami has nothing to do with the tide.

The wave is created by a violent underwater disturbance. In this case, an earthquake set things in motion. But a landslide, volcanic eruption or even a meteor strike can produce a tsunami.

The rapid underwater shift creates a violent reaction as millions of gallons of seawater are displaced. Waves form, radiating in all directions and traveling at the speed of a commercial jet.

As the wave approaches shallower water, it slows down and grows in size. In the worst cases, a wall of water 20 to 30 feet high rushes ashore.

But tsunamis are not limited to the Pacific and Indian oceans. One stretching from Canada to Boston was recorded in 1929.

Some fear seismic activity off the Canary Islands, 4,000 miles away, could someday cause a monster tsunami to strike the East Coast.

There's also no tsunami monitoring system in place along the Atlantic Coast.