~But there's stories of courage, determination and dumb luck too.
U.S. Honeymooners Survive Tsunami on Thai Island
PHUKET, Thailand (Reuters) - William Robins vowed Monday to change his life forever after the professional golfer from California and his new bride, Amanda, narrowly escaped death in the grip of a tsunami.
The newlyweds were honeymooning on Phi Phi island -- made famous by the film "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio -- when a giant tsunami wave slammed into it Sunday.
"I honestly thought this is the worst way to die. I thought I'm not meant to die like this," Robins, 26, told Reuters as he lay in a hospital bed in Phuket, his collar bone broken and most of his right ear torn off.
Robins and Amanda, who lay next to him with a fractured pelvis, were among hundreds of tourists stranded on Phi Phi after the massive wave washed onto the island.
The couple were strolling near the beach Sunday when they heard people screaming and saw tourists jumping off boats.
"We thought it was a terrorist bomb, so we jumped over a hotel fence and hid in a storage room," Robins said.
"We held hands and crouched in the corner. Then we heard a rumbling explosion that didn't end."
Moments later, their hiding place collapsed around them, Amanda said.
"We were pushed through two layers of concrete and forced to let go of each other's hands," said the 27-year-old teacher.
They were pulled underwater and swept 150 yards out to sea.
"There were broken pieces of wood and bits of metal everywhere. It smelled of gasoline," Robins said.
Suddenly, they saw a hotel employee in a boat searching for lost family members.
"We were screaming. We said if we don't get on this boat, we're dead," Robins said.
The man tossed them a line and pulled them into the boat. By nightfall, they were in hospital on Phuket.
We both came within 0.1 seconds of not seeing each other. There are going to be changes in our life from now on. We're going to take a lot of the bulls--- out," Robins said.
More than 22,000 people are now believed to have died on Sunday after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island sparked tsunami waves that crashed into shorelines around the Bay of Bengal. In Thailand, the toll stood at 839 on Monday evening.
link
~James living in Toyko (tsunami is a Japanese word) sent this story and wrote: "it seems so American to me. like the audience for article is America, and then the moral is some how Americanesque. a minor celebrity, his new wife, their personal tragedy and how it changes them. plus fear of terrorism. i particularly like the arrogance of the line "i'm not meant to die like this." whatever it might be, it struck me as a very weird article, out of touch with reality a bit."
~*This is how local tv news introduces the story to their Chicago area viewers. See also Bloomberg's "Americans, Italians, Among Dead in Asian Tsunami" to get a similar perspective.
Posted by Cieciel at December 28, 2004 02:35 AM