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

A father who saved his family during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has recalled how he “missed death five times on that day”.

Duncan Ridgley, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, had emigrated to Sri Lanka with his three children and then wife, arriving in the country on Christmas Eve.

Two days later, a series of huge waves triggered by an earthquake killed about 228,000 people in 14 countries.

He said the events that followed taught him to “live your life as you never know when it could be taken away from you”.

The 60-year-old now runs a co-working and co-living business in Blackpool, Lancashire, and also in Siwa, Egypt

He and his ex-wife Penelope, along with Angus, then seven, Claudia, eight, and Sasha, 11, had moved to a new home in Arugam Bay

“It was for a new beginning, where we thought everything was going to be great,” he said.

“On 26 December, we woke up thinking finally we can chill, but by 09:00 the water started coming in, at first very slowly.”

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’.”

He said the family had “no idea where Sasha was, it was the longest 10 minutes of my life”.

“Then this guy from Denmark walked round the corner with Sasha on his shoulders.”

They managed to clamber onto the roof of a nearby house before the third wave hit.

“My focus was on saving the kids’ lives – in total there were five waves.

“It was like going through five Viking battles in a day.”

He said the family eventually crossed two rivers to reach high ground on a rock.

“[It] was the happiest moment in my life as it was dry, so we knew we were not going to die that day.”

Stephen Rhodes, a presenter of the consumer show on BBC Three Counties Radio at the time, heard about the family’s struggle to get back to the UK.

They were at Colombo airport in their beach clothes with no shoes, money, passports or credit cards.

“He said he would pay on his own personal credit card, if I paid him back, which I did, – about £1,200,” said Mr Ridgley.

“Up until that day my life was planned and organised, then everything was different.

“I still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and am affected if I see big waves.”

The father-of-three said he had never been back.

“I would like to go with the kids at some stage, but I know it will not be easy, to trace our footsteps to see how far we got, maybe for some closure.

“It was the scariest and best day, when you miss death five times in a day, you feel pretty honoured.

“You’ve got to live your life, you never know when it could be taken away from you – far too many people live for the future.”

If you have been affected by this story or would like support then you can find organisations which offer help and information at BBC Action Line.