Thomas and Thisbe Anders
Posted on 01/09/2005 2:01:55 PM PST by ncoaster
HONG KONG -- A Hong Kong-based Briton survived the deadly tsunami that devastated Thailand's coastlines by abandoning a pregnant woman clinging to him and later smashing his knee cap when his leg was trapped underwater, a Hong Kong newspaper reported today. Scotsman Andrew Keith, 35, was swept away by waves that inundated the Thai resort island Phra Thong and found himself weighed down by a pregnant Swedish woman who wrapped her arms around him, the South China Morning Post reported.
"It was like being in a washing machine. We were being tumbled over and over under the water."
"As the pressure of the water got more intense, her grip just kept getting tighter and tighter," Keith told the Post after returning to Hong Kong.
Keith then pried her hands off and floated to the surface, the report said.
He said he's still haunted by the decision. "I still can't really think about what happened. For the first couple of days, it played very heavily on my mind."
"But there wasn't anything I could do," he told the Post.
The woman, identified as Thisbee Ander, and her husband, Thomas, were later found dead, the Post reported.
After prying himself free of Ander, Keith faced a second hurdle - his left leg was caught among roots in a swamp three metres underwater, the report said.
Keith kicked the trapped leg free with his right leg, smashing his kneecap in the process.
"I didn't feel any pain. I was just determined not to die."
"I thought to myself: 'I'm not going to die in a bloody mangrove swamp,' " Keith was quoted saying.
No thinking in a situation like that. Just reacting.
i dunno. i dunno.
Some people are hero's and then some people are not.
Can't blame the guy for preserving what could be preserved, instead of dying with someone he couldnt help.
You don't know what you would have done in such a situation, and neither do I.
I hope he sleeps well at night. Glad he's not serving with any of our people in Iraq.
He isn't a hero but he is a surviver. He couldn't save her or himself if he couldn't get free. Sad that he couldn't find a way to bring them up too.
That's my point.
Yep, first thing they teach in Lifesaving is that there is no gain in having two drowning victims - your're no good to anyone dead. Having to live with the decision is another question.
Well, that's a pretty cheap shot. You don't know what it's like to be drowning (I don't either), but I'm not going to second guess his actions.
But, allowing her to hang on and drag them both down guarantees they both drown.
Enjoy your armchair, quarterback.
There are no doubt many who made such decisions, some regarding their own family. Some survived, some did not. May I never have to make such a decision.
I understand this much better than I understand the woman who let one of her own children go.
I am aware that she has both children now - but even knowing that, and knowing that by holding on to both could cause all 3 of us to die, I just can't imagine choosing one child to let go.
I'm sure many died trying to save others or pulled down by other dying people.
I don't think so. He didn't say that something clinging to him and he had to fight to get free. He said a pregnant woman clinging tighter and tighter to him, right? I don't see that as panic. He knew what had a hold on him and had to make a decision. It doesn't say. He may have tried to get free enough to bring them both up and couldn't and finally pushed away. In reality she had just as much of a chance to come up for air as he did. Panicing probably what killed her and staying calm probably what resulted in him surviving . Hard thing to live with though..
A drowning person will grab onto anything in such a death grip that they will impede any effort to save them.
You can't only look at his decision to free himself.
What about her decision to grab him in a manner that would drown him with her?
My mother just told me about a man who was given a choice by a boat captain to either leave people in the water or take his dying wife to shore to get her to a hospital. If they had taken the time to rescue the other people, his wife would have died. He chose to save his wife. He said that if he had to do it all over again he would do the same thing, but he would be haunted by the people's faces for the rest of his life.
I remember once my teenage son being stupid and defiant wading where there were dangerous currents and three people had recently drowned and me screaming for him to come back and deciding quite coldly that since the water was very cold and he was as big as me, I would not be able to save him if he got in trouble and that because I was pregnant I would not try.
Fortunately he came back before he got in trouble.
My husband not being pregnant, said he would have saved him.
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