SINGAPORE: Francis Fong was only four when waves tore through a resort in the Thai seaside town of Krabi, sweeping him and his pregnant mother away during a family holiday on Boxing Day in 2004.
Moments earlier, a powerful 9.1-magnitude earthquake in the Indian Ocean had unleashed a tsunami that would claim about 230,000 lives across more than a dozen countries.
“At that time, I think it all happened in a blur. It happened quite suddenly,” recalled Mr Fong, now 25.
“We just heard someone shouting in the distance, and then when we looked out, we saw one huge wave coming towards us,” he added.
