Boxing Day Tsunami remembered – ‘I missed death five times’

Mr Ridgley, a former photographer for The Sun newspaper, recalled going to his Land Rover as the tsunami hit.

“I was about to climb in the back, I looked to the right and there was about a 50m (164ft) crystal wall of water with cars, goats and people rapidly coming at us.

“I got on the roof [of the Land Rover], with two of the children and Claudia was inside, in the back.”

A wave hit him and he was pulled along in a “mush of mud”.

When he surfaced, his son Angus, appeared next to him.

“I held his hand and thought I will not let go, but I had no idea where my wife and other children were, as Claudia was in the Land Rover, I thought she would be dead.”

Eventually he saw his wife about 30m (98ft) away in a tree.

“I screamed ‘who have you got, where’s Sasha?’ and Claudia just appeared in my wife’s arms, she said ‘hey dad I’m here’.”