Posted on 02/23/2005 8:46:14 PM PST by SmithL
VANCOUVER -- Photographs from the camera of a Canadian couple killed in Asia's tsunami include their final shots of a huge wave as it rushed toward them at their beach resort in Thailand.
John and Jackie Knill of North Vancouver, frequent visitors to the popular Thai resort, Khao Lak, were apparently on the beach when the tsunami hit Dec. 26.
The couple disappeared and relatives say they were notified about a week ago that the identities of their remains had been confirmed.
Searchers later also recovered the couple's destroyed digital camera but were able to print photos from its memory card.
In a sequence of photos over the course of a few minutes, some curious onlookers are shown wandering onto suddenly exposed tidal flats, a sign of the impending tsunami. In one, a large wave appears to be breaking in the distance.
The pictures show that within minutes, the wave grows larger and some beachgoers begin to take notice.
"I don't know why they didn't run," their son Christian Knill told Global TV in Vancouver. "Either they knew they couldn't or they didn't know the power of the wave."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Thank you.
Thank you. I will try to find them.
That second photo, is that wave in the back, which I guess is the incoming tsunami, is it an extremely high wall of water? Am I reading that right, or is that just a regular wave size?
Also, the photo with the boats, is that looking inland, or is that also a crashing tsunami behind the boats?
They simply didn't understand what was happening. As has occured in the past, many beach-roamers went down to see why the surf had receded -- revealing the coastal sub-surface -- a curiousity to say the least.
Couple's final photos "an echo from the grave"
Seattle Times staff reporter
|
Christian Pilet of North Bend could not have known the power of his discovery: the last photos taken by a couple who lost their lives in the Dec. 26 tsunami and the closure the photo diary would bring to a grieving family half a world away in British Columbia.
Taken in sequence, the photographs tell a gripping story: John and Jackie Knill arriving at a Khao Lak resort, happily enjoying Christmas dinner with a large group of friends and then basking in a brilliant tropical sunset.
COURTESY OF KNILL FAMILY |
The next day, the couple is seen hugging, smiling; radiant on the beach. Then the story turns ominous: people stroll the beach under a clear blue sky, apparently oblivious to the large wave that has formed a line across the horizon.
The wave gets closer, its power more evident as it kicks up sand and mud and finally crashes onto the beach.
"We were stunned; just out of the blue, an echo from the grave," Pilet said. "What we saw in these pictures were the last five minutes of these people's lives."
COURTESY OF KNILL FAMILY |
Pilet knew nothing about the man and woman in these photos. But through the power of the Internet and dogged determination, he would find their family not in Germany or Sweden as he'd originally suspected, but virtually in his own back yard.
The Knills of North Vancouver, B.C., had been on a four-month vacation in Thailand when they were caught in the deadly tsunami.
The disaster killed more than 170,000 people, including about a dozen Canadians.
What gets me is that after the earthquake, Drudge reported that scientists were "concerned" about possible tsunamis. You'd think the mainstream media would have picked up on that tip and had cameras rolling from helicopters along all the beaches in Asia. That was my first thought when I saw that news report. A couple of hours later, and the coastal areas are wiped out by a "surprise" tsunami. Apparently, the media, and the governments, were asleep at the switch. There was enough warning, apparently. After all, it was on Drudge! Oughta be some good lawsuits come of this.
You would have to ask someone other than me. I don't know anything about Tsunami. This is the first time I have ever seen pictures of one.
Even in the final photo, big as the wave looks, it would be easy to assume that it was just a large rogue wave with a trough behind it it. It isn't evident that the new sea level is going to be as high as the top of the wave, or that the water is going to keep on coming for minutes and minutes.
Boy, that answered my question fast. Thanks! It is pretty amazing to actually see it, although it doesn't look as harmful as one would expect until it's barreling down on you.
Wonder if the guy who took the photos realized he was a goner and continued to take them anyway. I wonder if he hoped his camera would be recovered with the pics? I find that hard to believe but then again, why would you stand there taking pictures when it was that close?
How could he not understand he was about to be wiped off the face of the earth?
How much time was in-between when the water receded and the Tidal Wave came ashore?
Witnesses state that it was somewhere around 10 to 15 minutes.
Enough time to get the hell out!
As was said earlier - if you were there when the water left, or knew the tide shouldn't be that far down. If you weren't, or didn't, how would you have known to seek higher ground?
I certainly would not have known that my death was near.
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