Lizz was on a scuba trip when the water began 'boiling' beneath her

Thursday, 26 December 2024 06:33

"There were whispers that a major disaster had happened."

Exclusive: Lizz Hills was on a scuba diving boat in Thailand on Boxing Day in 2004 when she remembers the water "boiling" beneath her.

Then aged 21, she was back in Thailand a year after a horrifying train accident left her with traumatic brain injuries in 2003 during a solo holiday.

Hills was in the South-East Asian nation once again with her father, Dan, because she was grateful to be alive. She very nearly lost her life again when the tsunami hit.

"I went to Thailand for my 21st birthday. It was my first time overseas all by myself and it was awesome… Unfortunately, I lasted 48 hours in Thailand before I was involved in a major accident," Hills told 9news.com.au.

"I broke 30 bones in my body, fractured my skull and lost my memory."

Hills almost let the injuries defeat her, but her dad convinced her to go back to Thailand for Christmas.

I did see an awful lot of death and I did see an awful lot of heartache, but I also didn't lose my passport, and my dad and I left Thailand as fast as we could...

He wanted to "show me what a beautiful world it is again", she recalls.

But Hills was only there for 48 hours when a fresh nightmare began.

The pair had joined 16 others for a three-day scuba diving trip off the coast of Khao Lak and on December 26, they were safe in the water when the tidal wave killed 228,000 people.

khoa lak beach christmas day before Boxing Day tsunami

Lizz Hills age 21 inside hotel from christmas eve Boxing Day tsunami

"The ocean looked like it was boiling and we lost radio communication," she remembers.

"Then we cut the anchor and left. I had a really big reaction because there were still divers in the water… we didn't really know what was going on.

"There were whispers that a major disaster had happened."

A small Thai warship picked up the group after several hours stranded at sea.

When they returned to shore, the scale of the tsunami's impact was laid bare.

It was an apocalyptic mayhem and at one point the gravity of the disaster made Hills burst into tears.

Thankfully, their decision to stay on a boat saved their lives that day.

"If we had decided to stay on land and have Christmas lunch on the beach, I wouldn't be here," Hill said.

Dive boat waiting Boxing Day Tsunami Thailand

Hills and her dad waited in emergency accommodation and thankfully still had their passports on them.

Just two days after the tsunami, they were able to leave Thailand and ended up in Singapore, where Dan was living.

Hills struggled to comprehend why she was spared from the death toll, but the double survival has shaped her life.

She described the tsunami as a "wakeup call".

"I didn't lose anybody. I did see an awful lot of death and I did see an awful lot of heartache, but I also didn't lose my passport, and my dad and I left Thailand as fast as we could," she said.

"Grief is a natural process, and it does what it does, and it probably took a good two years for me to feel nice and calm about the situation I found myself in.

About 230,000 people were killed worldwide as a result of the Boxing Day tsunami.

lindsay and family boxing day tsunami recovery

"I thought, if I didn't get the wake-up call the first time around when I was so close to death, now's the opportunity, and I set out to live a life that I dreamed of."

Hills is now a mother of a "beautiful" teenage son – something she once feared would never happen.

Today's 20-year anniversary of the tsunami also gave her pause to think about how far she's come.

"I think the tsunami is such a part of who I am and has formed how I want to engage with this life, this world… it's probably just such a deep part of me," she added.

"I was a bit surprised that it was the 20-year anniversary, and that really brought home to me, it has given me a lot of chance for reflection, and that's been really lovely."