Salamasina Taufua was basking in the sun and happily watching her three young children playing on the sand when a massive tidal wave appeared suddenly and swept all three youngsters away.
Jesasa (7) and sisters Uena (4) and E. J. (3) were dragged into the sea as they played at the family's beach resort, Taufua Beach Fales in Lalomanu, Aleipata.
The bodies of Jesasa and Uena were found yesterday afternoon.
E. J., still missing, was presumed dead.
Mrs Taufua, who was also hit by the tsunami, was last night in the district hospital in Lalomanu in a critical condition.
Her father, Ale Vena Ale, said he was devastated and still coming to terms with the loss of his three grandchildren, as well as with his eldest daughter's condition.
"All three of them - gone. Sina is in hospital and her children are dead.
"I just want to get to my daughter."
Mr Ale said his son-in-law had already left for work in the Samoan capital, Apia, when the earthquake struck just before 7am.
Turning back to go home, he arrived to find the resort destroyed, his three children gone and his wife barely alive.
"He's just lost," Mr Ale said.
"[He] called and said the two older kids' [bodies] have been found, but they're still looking for the baby. It's tragic."
Lalomanu - located on the southern part of the island of Upolu - was one of the worst-hit villages when the tsunami surged through the island yesterday.
Whole villages were wiped out when the tsunami struck.
The devastating wave was triggered by an earthquake of 8.3 magnitude on the Richter scale.
Other villages including Poutasi, Lefaga, Falealili and Saleapaga were reported to have suffered dozens of fatalities, with houses and crops destroyed.
Driving to be at his daughter's bedside in Lalomanu, Mr Ale described the destruction he could see around him.
"The wave just came and destroyed everything - houses, cars; everything's down as far as you can see. It's like a carpet."
Trucks carrying the bodies of the dead were filing past him, heading towards the morgue in Apia, he said.
He saw people picking through debris which hours earlier had been their homes.
Mr Ale, who lives in Toamua - on the western side of Upolu - said he and his family had just woken in the early hours when their house began to shake violently.
"We all ran outside of our house - the earthquake was so long, and everything shook. We were so scared - [we] thought the house would collapse."
Alarms rang loudly soon afterwards, warning people to get to higher ground because a tsunami was about to hit.
