{"id":39869,"date":"2024-12-26T01:42:17","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T06:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/an-elephant-took-me-to-safety\/26\/12\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-12-26T01:42:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T06:42:17","slug":"an-elephant-took-me-to-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/an-elephant-took-me-to-safety\/26\/12\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"An elephant took me to safety"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">A woman who was able to survive the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand 20 years ago unharmed, aged eight, because of an elephant said &#8220;it makes you grateful for everything that&#8217;s happened to you&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">On 26 December 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">It claimed the lives of 230,000 people, but she taken to safety by elephant, Ningnong who she was riding at the time the first wave hit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">Miss Owen&#8217;s story inspired the children&#8217;s author Michael Morpurgo to write a book, called Running Wild, that was adapted into a theatrical play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">The 28-year-old, who now lives in Northampton, said at the time she &#8220;didn&#8217;t fully understand what was going on&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-[4] size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Amber works in sales for a market research company [Amber Mason]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">She said she was staying at a hotel in Phuket, with her mother and stepfather, over the festive season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">Early on Boxing Day, she was in the bathroom with her mother Samantha Miles, when &#8220;the room started shaking, none of us had any idea what was going on, things just wobbled, nothing too drastic, so we didn&#8217;t think anything of it and went for breakfast&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">Most days she went to the children&#8217;s club, which had resident elephants Ningnong and Yumyum, and on that morning she rode on Ningnong&#8217;s back down to the beach.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"A large amount of people walking through debris along the shoreline of Pathong beach of Phuket island, southern Thailand, on 27 December 2004, a day after a tidal wave devastated the coastline. &#10;There are items discarded on the beach, including foliage. \" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/Nd8zIewKfwzW6CFj2Sri1g--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/f50fc955af8999572e8b43299b17c76f\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-[4] size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>A series of waves triggered by an earthquake devastated parts of Thailand, including Puket [Getty Images]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">She noticed that the water had gone &#8220;really far back&#8221; leaving bumpy sand and fish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what happened, but there was a sound or something and all the animals on the beach started running off.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;I was still with the elephant handler and all of a sudden the water started to come in, the elephant just pulled away, ran through the water and I was taken to the concrete stage, at the hotel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;I could tell the animals knew what was going on.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">She said as the hotel had a large number of lagoons around it, most of the water filtered into them, so it was not as badly affected as other areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">After several days of trying to get flights, the family flew home on New Years Eve, 31 December.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Amber (right) standing next to a puppet elephant, with stage lights behind her. An actor is standing to the left holding two sticks, to move the elephant, that is a large prop. The elephant is brown, with a large trunk, and she is wearing all brown, with hat on. Amber has on a boat, over a white top and dark trousers. She has long blond hair. \" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"375\" height=\"211\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/CBoNXe2gmosUEamunn9oaA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTM5Nw--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/6c21504adbaedd64b6f429778eef64b6\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Amber (right) was able to see Running Wild when it was made into a stage show [Amber Owen]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">Her story was covered <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/1\/hi\/england\/beds\/bucks\/herts\/4165273.stm?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:by the press;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">by the press<\/a>, and &#8220;it has always followed me around&#8221;, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;It was nice to read out of all the horrible reads,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">She said Morpurgo, the author of War Horse, was inspired by her story to write Running Wild, and she got to meet him, and the cast of the play, which was amazing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;It&#8217;s been part of my journey in life, it makes you really grateful for everything that&#8217;s happened to you,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;Things happen for a reason, and this was my reason &#8211; You&#8217;ve just got to live life to the full.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\">&#8220;It shows elephants instincts and promotes them as an animal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Amber Mason, standing next to an elephant, by a hotel pool, wearing a colurful bikini, with pink bottoms, with another girl, with wet hair, and a blue bikini, with her back to the camera. \" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/ccwZUGuR2wMrmjfhaWKGkw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/0aa4078d73e0bd4178a636c056e9abfd\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-[4] size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Amber said two elephants lived at the hotel and she would regularly feed them bananas [Amber Owen]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0\"><em>Follow East of England news on <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bbclookeast\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>X<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbceastofengland\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>Instagram<\/em><\/a><em> and Facebook: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BBCBedsHertsBucks\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:BBC Beds, Herts &amp; Bucks;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>BBC Beds, Herts &amp; Bucks<\/em><\/a><em>, and <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BBCNorthamptonshire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:BBC Northamptonshire;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>BBC Northamptonshire<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"col-body mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">More on this story<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/boxing-day-tsunami-elephant-took-051957216.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A woman who was able to survive the Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand 20 years ago unharmed, aged eight, because of an<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/an-elephant-took-me-to-safety\/26\/12\/2024\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}