All language subtitles for s01e04.Rescue.2160p.WEB-DL.Rus.Eng.[sub.eng]-BLUEBIRD

[birds chirping]

-I'm on the floor coughing
up most of the sea.

I look round, and there's
total devastation.

I mean, every single one
of the shacks had gone.

The world has been
wiped clean...

...and it's like you're
the last man on earth.

My first thoughts is,
"Where could she be?"

So, I look round for Rachel...

and, at this point in time,

I'm holding out
hope against hope

that she's made it
because I know full well

that she's a very
strong swimmer, um, but,

deep, deep, deep
down in my heart,

I think she's dead.

When the wave hit,

we were walking
through the marketplace.

[screams]

[rushing water]

-As the water started
to go above my chest,

I looked for Rachel and I
reached out and I grabbed the

straps of her bikini top.

The straps broke, and
she went sailing past me.

After the water subsided,

I just headed
back to the hotel,

screaming for Rachel.

Knowing,
in my heart of hearts,

she’s not there.

Then I saw survivors.

But I realized when I
saw some of the severity of

the wounds coming in that
some people may not make it

unless we did
something really, really fast.

But we’re cut off.

We’re in the middle of
nowhere and no idea when

help was gonna come.

This is Armageddon.

[♪ theme music playing]

-My life before the
day is totally different.

I was a very cheerful girl.

I like to talk a lot
with people,

and I teasing people
and make people laugh.

When I see the wave
come towards me...

...I make decision to
run up to the high place.

But I still afraid that the
wave would come back and

kill me and kill everyone.

Most the people say, “You
better go up to the hills.”

I see a lot of dead bodies
laying on the beach.

I saw this girl on the ground.

She's about to die and she say,

[Pim Thuleewan] And then I
hear the scream of people,

"Please help me, get
me out of this place."

I could not say no to
everyone calling for help,

and I feel like I
have to help them,

I could not run to
just save myself.

And I forgot about my fear.

I make decision to go back.

I have to help them.

[Cici Romain] I was battered,
I was broken,

and my right shoulder
had dislocated,

but I was lucky because
I was able to walk.

I was in reasonably
good shape compared to

everybody else who
wasn't in good shape.

If you are caught in
any of the buildings,

that wall of water smashes
through that window,

and everything in that
room becomes a weapon.

Not just a weapon,

a weapon that is
desperately trying to kill you.

There's a poor guy
that was literally skewered

on some metal
in the reception.

Hundreds of people had died,

and many hundreds of
people were injured.

So, I just said, you know,

“Is there anybody
with medical experience?”

And they said, “No.”

They said, “Well,
what do you do?”

I said, “I work in psychiatry,”
and they said,

“Well, maybe we can
use a psychiatrist later on,

but right now, we need someone
with some medical training.”

And I thought, well, I’ve got
some medical training, yeah.

He said, “Well, you’re it.”

This is way beyond anybody’s
capacity to deal with.

You’ve got no supplies.

I’m telling people to
use bits of wooden slats as

splints for people
with broken legs.

And then Sally came in,

and it was difficult
for me to process how

I was going to manage that.

-Sally and I were by the
pool when the wave came,

and I said,

"Go, just go and
get somewhere high."

And then I ran down the beach
to try and help some people.

And then we were
separated soon after.

When I found Sally,

she obviously didn't
think she was that badly hurt,

but then,
when I checked under the,

checked under the sheet,

she had a deep gash
right into her stomach,

and that was all open;
torn to shreds like you'd see

in a shark attack.

Um... And then her foot,

her ankle was all open,
and her heel was, sort of,

all hanging off.

[Cici Romain] She was severe,
and I had to be honest with her.

This is, this is a toughie.

She needs proper surgery.

If I don't get her off
this island today and get

proper medical treatment,

she's not gonna
last the night.

But, the only way
people could get to us was

by boat or by air.

[overlapping foreign chatter]

[overlapping foreign chatter]

-I heard the news
in the morning,

but not very much detail.

This is unprecedented.

We never encountered
a tsunami before.

But, at the meeting, they
reported that there were at

least 100 dead and it
would increase hour by hour.

They said that some people
were stranded in many islands,

so I contact
the Army, the Navy.

I said, "Go there
and help the people.

Every minute matters.

We have to get them out."

[birds chirping]

-I was stuck.

I could not move, up
on something high up.

Something was
wrapped around my body and

it hurt a lot.

I'd just turned 25 and I was
living with my boyfriend so,

yeah, engaged and ready
to move on in life.

So, I'm just laying
there on my stomach

and then I heard people scream
for help around me.

I heard a guy below me,

it felt like a
couple of meters down.

He was breathing really
bad and he was moaning like

"I'm about to die,
I'm going to die,

I, I can't make it."

I'm like, "Just take it calm,
you just relax,

you just breathe, I will
scream for the both of us."

So I'm screaming, I'm
resting a couple of seconds,

I talk to him.

I don't know how
long time passed,

but he stopped breathing
and stopped making a sound.

And then I start
screaming for help again.

[Cici Romain] Sally was
getting weaker and weaker.

The, the cuts were deep,
she had lost a lot of blood,

the wounds are
gonna come infected,

so she was my priority
number one to get her off.

[Paul Murray] She was
just quiet, not moving,

not speaking, her
breath was wheezing.

And it was just the sense of
guilt and self-loathing that

you get from helping strangers,

when you didn't help
somebody that you cared about.

It all kicks in and
then you just...

...you know, she, she isn't
gonna get through this,

she's gonna die anyway.

[sniffs]

Nobody's coming in
to just pluck us from disaster.

But then, somebody said
"There's a ferry and it looks

like it's heading in
towards the pier."

Everybody's eyes are
fixed on the horizon...

and it was at that point,
I'm like, "That's coming,

that boat's coming in,
that is coming in."

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[Cici Romain]
Somebody said to me,

“Some boats have
come back to help.”

So, I thought,

"Great, I can get some
of these people off here

as fast as possible."

So, I said "Anybody
who is walking wounded

get on the boat."

But Sally, she was in the
seriously injured category and

I didn't want her
to go on a boat,

because I felt that it
would be better for her if she

was flown out
straight to a hospital.

But it's a tough call.

If a helicopter doesn't come,
she's gonna die.

-In my head,

there was no way that
boat was leaving without

myself and Sally on it.

Not a flipping chance
am I missing that boat.

We got Sal as close to
the edge as we could,

over the edge of
the boat and on.

The boat was pretty busy.

There was other
people dotted around,

various states of emotion.

Some people just absolutely
collapsed sobbing,

some people just gone,
like, just completely vacant.

I just remember thinking,

“She needed to be on this boat,
she’s on the boat.

Right, what is next?"

And then, the, then you
get that sort of flood of

"But, what if where
we're going has been hit?"

And I'm just thinking,
"Just hold on, just hold on."

[Soffie Modin] At this time,
the people screaming for help,

they became fewer
and fewer and it was not

because someone helped them.

I was thinking about everything.

The funeral was, kinda,
planned in my head.

Like in a movie situation,
you imagine it was like me,

my boyfriend, my
boyfriend's little brother,

a friend, all our friends
in the same funeral are, like,

it was the whole thing,

like worst-case scenario
thinking at the same time.

And we were 25, we
were young and I started

screaming for help in English.

It's like "Help,
can anyone hear me?"

And then I hear
people far away

and they say,
"Yeah, we can hear you."

I'm like...

[exhales deeply]

"Someone found me."

Finally.

It felt like I, I don't
have the time of it,

but it felt like hours and then
I hear them switch to Swedish

between each other and I hear
them talk about the risks.

"We can't go in, the
building can fall down.

So, I just switched to Swedish
and like, “I’m also Swedish,

you can’t leave me here.

Like, I’m calling
the newspapers,

like I’m calling your parents
if you leave me.” I was like,

“If I get out, I
will hunt you down.”

And then they
reply in Swedish like,

“Yeah, but we don’t
even have shoes on.

And, we need to be more people,

we can’t go in
just the two of us.

We promise we will
get back to get you,

we will come back to
get you, we promise you."

And then they,
and then they leave.

Then I was like,

“Oh my God, they had just
talked about all the risks,

they are not coming back.”

[Cici Romain] There are people
being brought in all the time.

I thought, "Well,
at least we got some

people out on the boats,"

but I still had some
serious injuries that still

needed to get off the island,
and the sun was starting to set.

And the devastation around me,

I knew there would be
people there that are trapped,

and you don't know
when help is gonna arrive.

Deep down, you're thinking,
"Why is it taking so long?"

It was a difficult thing
to feel that helpless.

And then somebody
says to you,

"I can see a
helicopter coming."

[distant helicopter rotors]

And the sense of relief over
my body, it was just palpable.

You know, it's just like,
"Oh, thank God."

[exhales deeply]

And I remember Rachel,
who, who I thought I'd lost,

she just appeared behind me.

-I remember seeing you as I
picked my way across the rubble.

[CiCi Romain] Number two
over here okay, IV drip,

losing blood.

Okay. Number two,
here, here, here.

Number three.

-Standing in front of the
hotel with a group of people,

shouting orders,
and you didn't see me.

I came up behind you,

and I just tapped
you on the shoulder,

and I said, "Honey, I'm here,"

and you just turned round,

and it was like that moment
in a movie where we were

just reunited, and we just
hugged each other really tight.

And you said, "I thought
I'd lost you" and I said,

"I thought I had lost you too."

And it was that incredible
moment of realizing that

we'd both survived.

[Cici Romain] I was very,
very emotional at the time,

very emotional,
but I just felt,

"Right, I can start
getting these people off

the island now."

I've run down to meet
the helicopter pilot.

His English wasn't
particularly good, but,

thankfully, he had a
lovely woman called Kimmy.

-You can help us,
but they will help as well.

-Okay.

[Cici Romain] Helped me to
translate as best as possible,

so then I said,
"I've got injured,

I need to prioritize
who I need to get off

the island first."

-Okay, you
come here with me.

Okay. You, you guy, I,

I pick some of these
people to come with you.

At that time,

I just feel that power,
that energy come to me.

I have more power
than strength that I

not even feel hungry.

I not even feel like want
to drink something.

People do not
realize, actually,

I'm one of the
survivors as well.

[Cici Romain] I didn't
save lives on my own.

There were a team of
wonderful people who

stood up and were counted,

who took it upon
themselves to go out and

search for survivors.

[rescuer] Yeah, you don't cry,
you're a good girl.

You're a strong girl.
You’re a strong girl.

[Cici Romain] A young girl
got pulled out and

brought back onto
the helicopter.

It was wonderful.

And to watch somebody
put a sheet over somebody,

so when the helicopter lands,

the sand doesn’t
get in your wounds,

pick them up and then take
them to the helicopter when,

you know, they’ve got
cuts and bruises themselves,

that for me was
a joyous thing.

Yeah, I'm proud of them.

I'm very proud of them so,
I want to say thank you.

This is me, just saying
thank you to you guys.

[Soffie Modin] They
kept their promise.

The Swedish guys
turned up again

and they had more
people with them.

I think there are
four maybe arriving.

They got me out
of that hole and,

we are hugging and I'm like,

"Thank you for my life,"
and he was like,

"Yeah, take care, good luck,"

and then the
chopper leaves.

[Soffie Modin] I was just so
happy to be out of Phi Phi.

We were four people going
to Thailand for holidays and

after the tsunami, we
were three coming home.

I survived with some injuries,

my boyfriend Magnus
survived with some injuries.

But, Magnus' little brother
Frederick did not make it home.

So, he was identified
April 2005.

[overlapping chatter]

[Paul Murray] At that point,

Sally's condition
was still the same.

She still wasn't speaking
and she was just lying there.

And people are dying.

I think the lady
next to her, who was,

was alive when she got on
the boat if I remember,

she had like a terrible
injury to her neck and I,

I know the sh-- the sheet
was pulled over her head.

There was still
pangs of, for me,

that Sally wasn't gonna survive.

And then, when we
arrived in Phuket,

there was a bit,
there was a bit of elation,

'cause, the, as
the boat was coming in,

there was, like,

rows of ambulances and
there was tons of people

who actually looked
clean and neat.

You're thinking,
"Oh my God,

these guys haven't
just been washed away,

there's actually
something functional here,"

and, as soon as
that boat came in and

that gangplank hit,
they flooded the boat,

and they were straight on.

I felt...

[sighs]

...relief, um...

[sniffs]

...and it was the
point when I thought,

"We might just
get out of this.

She's going to be
going to hospital.

She's gonna be okay."

-I just felt all these thuds of
people jumping onto the boat,

and then they just passed me,

they thought I was dead.

And Paul was like,

"No, no, no, she's alive.
She's alive."

And they grabbed me.

And, I just remember,

just the relief
that Paul was there.

He was just so calm,

and he was smiling
and kept reassuring me,

kept telling me I
was gonna be fine.

The one thing that
stood out was that people

were just selfless,
especially the local people,

the Thai people.

There was a lot of loss,

but we, we were,
we were lucky.

We were the
lucky ones that day.

[reporter] Good evening.

The largest earthquake
in 40 years has devastated

large parts of Southern Asia.

[reporter 2] Emergency
services have been overwhelmed.

Communications by road, by
telephone have been cut off.

[reporter 3] Only now that
the waters have subsided can

the authorities begin the
grim task of establishing

exactly how many
people have died here.

[reporter 4] The
latest estimates,

they put the death toll
from this earthquake

as well as the tsunamis,
at 7,000.

[reporter 5] The
death toll is rising.

More than 12,000 people
are dead across Asia.

[reporter 3] It's now more
than 23,000 and that number is

likely to rise still further.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

-We were surprised and shocked,

just how truly unprecedented
the scale of this story was.

And, in the midst of all this,
as the reports are coming in,

first from Sri Lanka
and then from India and

then from Thailand,

and we're still not hearing
anything from Indonesia.

[reporter 4] And what's
known about the areas closest

to the epicenter?

[reporter 5] Well,
most disturbingly,

not a single report has
come out from that area

on that Western Coast of...

[Eli Flournoy] My
colleague at CNN had been

trying to confirm with
officials what was going on

but the communication
systems were wiped out and

she hadn’t been able to
get through to anyone

anywhere close to where
the earthquake happened.

And I'll never forget,

when she called me
and she said,

"Eli, I have a terrible
feeling about why we're not

getting any
information from Aceh."

She said, "I think it's gone.

I think they're all gone."

[helicopter rotors]

-When we flew
into Banda Aceh,

you just couldn't believe it.

Just houses flattened,

as far as the
eye could see.

Thousands of
people had died,

who had been
washed away.

Everybody that you met
had a story to tell.

Three weeks later,

you could not imagine
that there were any survivors.

Everybody who would be
alive would be accounted for.

We couldn't actually
drive all the way down

to the coast.

The road had
been washed away,

so we left the car
a few hundred yards

and, whilst they
were doing that,

I just thought I
would get some other shots.

And I saw this child walking
towards me along the beach,

and he's just been through hell.

He's lost his family,

he's lost everything and
he didn't know where he was.

He had spent the
last two weeks wandering

up and down the beach.

He'd been sleeping next to
dead bodies in the water.

The only thing he had been
eating was packets of dried

noodles that he had
managed to scavenge.

We were just heartbroken...

because he had no one.

[reporter] A US
Geological Survey official

says that a warning center
could have saved most

of the thousands killed.

He says none of
the countries hit,

including Thailand,
Indonesia and Sri Lanka,

had a tsunami warning system
to alert people.

Tsunamis in the
Indian Ocean are rare.

-The tsunami wave itself
took about twelve hours

and it killed more people
than have ever been killed

in any previous
tsunami in known history.

We know with absolute
certainty that at some point

there will be another
event as bad, or worse than

the Sumatra event,
as horrible as it was.

And we have to be prepared.

I began dedicating,

I guess, the
rest of my career,

to helping other places form
their warning systems and

be part of the process of
researching and bringing in

the new methods to
save lives in the future.

[Barry Hirshorn] What took
many hours to do back then,

the warning centers
now do in minutes.

If the same thing
were to happen today

that happened then,

I think that there's hope
that we will be prepared.

[♪ reflective music playing]

[Cici Romain] Nearly a
quarter of a million people

left this planet in one day.

To see one soul lost
is traumatic enough,

to try and contemplate
that much is, is, is, is,

is too difficult, it's
too painful to bear.

But, I saw hundreds of
acts of heroism that day.

When things are
at their darkest,

when somebody is in trouble,
people will want to help.

That is the wonderful
power of the human spirit.

[♪ somber music playing]

Captioned by
Cotter Media Group