A woman who managed to survive the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand 20 years ago unscathed, aged eight, thanks to an elephant said it “makes you grateful for everything that has happened to you”.
On 26 December 2004, Amber Owen, 28, from Milton Keynes, was on holiday in Phuket when a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck under the sea off northern Indonesia.
It passed with the lives of 230,000 people, but was rushed by an elephant, which Ningnong was riding when the first wave attacked.
Ms Owen’s story inspired children’s author Michael Morpurgo to write a book, called Running Wild, which was adapted into a play.
The 28-year-old, who now lives in Northampton, said at the time he “didn’t fully understand what was happening”.
Amber works in sales at a market research firm [Amber Mason]
He said he was staying at a hotel in Phuket with his mother and stepfather during the Christmas holidays.
At the start of Boxing Day, he was in the bathroom with his mother Samantha Miles, when “the room started to shake, none of us knew what was going on, things just went awry, nothing too bad, so we didn’t think anything of it. We went to have breakfast”.
Most days he went to the children’s club, where the elephants Ningnong and Yumyum lived, and that morning he rode on Ningnong’s back down to the beach.
A series of waves caused by the earthquake devastated parts of Thailand, including Phuket [Getty Images]
He noticed that the water had completely receded, leaving the sand with lumps and fish.
“I don’t know what happened, but there was a sound or something and all the animals in the sea started running away.
“I was walking with the elephant catcher when suddenly the water started coming in, the elephant just took off, ran into the water and I was taken to the concrete platform, to the hotel.
“I thought the animals knew what was going on.”
He said that since this hotel has a lot of lakes near it, most of the water was purified, so it was not disturbed as much as other places.
After several days of trying to find flights, the family flew home on New Year’s Day, December 31st.
Amber (right) was able to see Running Wild during the stage show [Amber Owen]
His case was put in the papers, and “he’s been following me all the time,” he said.
“It was fun learning from all the bad lessons,” he added.
He said that Morpurgo, the author of War Horse, was inspired by his story to write Running Wild, and that he met him, along with the cast of the play, which was amazing.
“It was part of my journey in life, it makes you very grateful for everything that happened to you,” she said.
“Things happen for a reason, and this was my reason – You have to live life to the fullest.
“It shows the emotions of an elephant and develops itself as an animal.”
Amber said two elephants live in the hotel and she regularly feeds them bananas [Amber Owen]
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