A woman who survived the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand unscathed 20 years ago at the age of eight thanks to an elephant, said: “It makes you grateful for everything that happened to you.”
On December 26, 2004, Amber Owen, 28, from Milton Keynes, was on holiday in Phuket when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck under the sea in northern Indonesia.
It claimed the lives of 230,000 people, but she was carried to safety by the elephant Ningnong, whom she was riding when the first wave hit.
Miss 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 that she “didn’t quite understand what was going on”.
Amber works in sales for a market research agency [Amber Mason]
She said she was staying at a hotel in Phuket with her mother and stepfather over the holidays.
Early on Boxing Day, she was in the bathroom with her mother Samantha Miles, when “the room started shaking, none of us had any idea what was going on, things were just wobbling, nothing too drastic, so we didn’t think anything of it by.” it and went to breakfast.”
Most days she went to the children’s club, where elephants Ningnong and Yumyum lived, and that morning she rode on Ningnong’s back to the beach.
A series of waves caused by an earthquake devastated parts of Thailand, including Puket [Getty Images]
She noticed that the water had receded “very far back”, leaving behind lumpy sand and fish.
“I don’t know what happened, but there was a noise or something and all the animals on the beach started running away.
“I was still with the elephant handler and suddenly the water started coming in, the elephant just retreated, ran through the water and I was taken to the concrete stage near the hotel.
“I could tell the animals knew what was going on.”
She said that because the hotel had a large number of lagoons, most of the water in them was filtered so it was not as badly affected as other areas.
After several days of trying to get flights, the family flew home on New Year’s Eve, December 31.
Amber (right) was able to see Running Wild when it was made into a show [Amber Owen]
Her story ended up in the press and “it has always haunted me,” she said.
“It was fun to read among all those terrible books,” she added.
She said Morpurgo, the author of War Horse, was inspired by her story to write Running Wild, and she met him and the cast of the play, which was wonderful.
“It’s part of my life’s journey, it makes you very grateful for everything that has happened to you,” she said.
“Things happen for a reason, and this was my reason: you just have to live life to the fullest.
“It shows the instincts of elephants and promotes them as animals.”
Amber said two elephants lived at the hotel and she regularly fed them bananas [Amber Owen]
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