A HONEYMOON couple say they are lucky to be alive after a huge chunk of ice fell from an Arctic glacier during a sightseeing cruise - sending giant tidal waves on to the deck.

Drew and Leigh Burnett stood at the front of the ship touring the Hornsund glacier, near the Svalbard Islands 310 miles north of Norway on Wednesday, when tonnes of ice collapsed into the sea.

Drew, 28, was forced to throw himself on his 35-year-old wife to stop her being swept away as the freezing-cold water forced them to the side of the bow of the Aleksey Maryshev - pelting them with shards of ice.

He was airlifted to hospital with a suspected fractured skull but was later told he had a perforated eardrum.

The couple from Prestwood say the waves reached around four storeys high and were extremely lucky not to have been hurled into the sea.

Leigh, a property director for a firm in London, said: "By all rights we should be dead. It is incredible no one died."

The couple, who married on July 21 at Missenden Abbey, Great Missenden, said the drama unfolded as they came to a standstill in a cove for around ten minutes, and were just ten metres away from the 30-metre high glacier when it fell.

Leigh said: "It was beautiful but we could hear it cracking all the time with some chunks falling into the water.

"We saw the ice beginning to drop and Drew just grabbed me and pulled us to the side. We moved from the side of the boat and on to the floor.

"Drew jumped on me to cover me up and lessen the blow. Then a second wave came over again. We thought we would be lifted up and taken over. Ice is the reason why we got injured - it is like being hit with shards of glass."

Drew, an associate director for Bank of Ireland, came back to England on Saturday and is still having tests on his ear. Leigh is covered in bruises.

A statement issued by tour company Discover the World, yesterday said the accident involved 48 passengers.

It added: "The majority of our passengers from the Aleksey Maryshev have now safely returned home to the UK. We have four passengers remaining in hospital in Tromso, Norway. One of our passengers is about to be discharged shortly, the other three are in a stable condition and are expected to be back in the UK within the week.

"We are still awaiting a detailed investigation report from the ship operators and the Svalbard authorities and we are continuing our own investigation."