Incredible tale of ‘miracle boy’ who survived on puddle water in swamp for 21 days after Boxing Day tsunami 20yrs ago
A YOUNG boy spent nearly a month living off puddle water after the devastating Boxing Day tsunami.
Hero Ian Dovaston told The Sun how he managed to save seven-year-old Martunis 20 years ago after the catastrophic 2004 tsunami killed more than 230,000 people.
Martunis, weak and malnourished, miraculously survived off puddle water and packets of noodles that floated past him until Ian and his colleague saved the child.
The youngster was found on the once idyllic Banda Aceh beach in Indonesia where he was stranded for three weeks before help arrived.
Martunis’ tsunami story was filled with miracles and heartbreak after the two Brits miraculously saved him.
Martunis’ life was turned upside down in a matter of minutes when the tsunami hit – forcing him to abandon a football match with his friends to desperately take shelter.
The boy rushed home to gather his mum and two sisters after the 9.1 magnitude earthquake ripped through Aceh.
Chaos ensued after the family sprinted to board their pickup truck, hoping to escape the incoming disaster.
But it would be the last time he’d see his mum and sisters alive after the deadly waves separated the family.
Martunis explained how he managed to stay above water by climbing on mattresses that swept past him and grabbing onto anything that could stop him from drowning, in a 2024 interview with Save The Children.
He said: “I took a dry coconut. Then I hugged it like I was hugging a ball.
“I also tried to get onto another mattress. The mattress also sunk.
“Suddenly I was on a big tree, so I was carried towards the sea.”
Ian recalled how he discovered Martunis and another young boy barely alive on a beach.
He explained how among the devastation and horror, Martunis was a “beacon of hope”.
Ian had travelled to the disaster-stricken place as a reporter with Sky News but explained how his work mindset quickly switched to that of a father.
He told The Sun: “You immediately go into this you know father situation, all of us were fathers and we just thought we need to get this little boy to help.”
Ian explained how they rushed weak and malnourished Martuins to Save the Children for the charity’s family tracing system.
The hero explained that his 21 days of horror quickly became a miraculous but bittersweet reunion with his father, Sarbini, and grandmother.
Ian told The Sun: “Well it’s incredible how quickly it happened really.
“You’re basically looking at an orphan.”
Martunis was quickly hit with the heartbreaking news that his mother and sisters did not survive the unthinkable tragedy.
Despite this loss, Ian explained that all was not lost of the young boy as Martunis was reunited with his father after fearing the worst.
He said: “I just remember the hand touch the child and as a parent, you know you can’t imagine the emotions that those two people are going through.
“He probably had given up all hope of ever seeing his son again and his son had probably given up all hope of seeing his father again.”
He added: “I’ll carry that image forever.”
Ian described the total devastation caused by the deadly tsunami on a day that should have been reserved for celebration.
He said: “There was mud everywhere. There were shoes everywhere that reminded you people have been carried away by this wave and all of their possessions have been left by this 55mph wave.
“It felt like and looked like the end of the world and I felt like crying as we were driven in there.”
2004 Boxing Day Tsunami
HUNDREDS of thousands of lives were taken in one of the world's most tragic natural disasters.
A day of celebration turned into a day of death and heartbreak after a huge underwater earthquake set off the deadly tsunami.
At 00.59am GMT on December 26, 2004, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake struck the western coast of Indonesia.
The quake unleashed a force said to be 1,500 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.
These tremors lasted around 10 minutes, and 15 minutes later the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning.
Around 30 minutes after the quake, a tsunami struck the northern tip of Indonesia, killing around 130,000 people.
It’s deadly waves are said to have reached 20-30 metres.
Several countries around the Indian Ocean were affected by the shocking disaster 20 years ago.
The tsunami struck Burma, Nicobar and Andaman Island, Thailand, the South East Coast of India, Maldives and Somalia.
Banda Aceh, in Indonesia, was the worst hit, with more than 60 per cent of its buildings destroyed.
At least 155 British tourists died while they were on holiday in south east Asia during this devastating festive period.
KILLER WAVES
Known to be one of the worst natural disasters in human history, these deadly waves were ignited by an earthquake that unleashed a force said to be 1,500 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.
The quake lasted ten minutes and the tsunami struck 30 minutes after, with waves reaching highs of 20-30 meters.
Mother Nature’s deadly attack affected several nations but Banda Aceh was the worst hit, with more than 60 per cent of its buildings destroyed.
Martunis’ miracle survival had a happy ending as he now has his own family – a wife and a one-year-old daughter and he is still close with his father.
The boy’s life was also changed when an image of him wearing a Portugal football jersey circled the world.
The Portuguese team were so touched by this image they paid to help rebuild his family home and Martunis even called himself Cristiano Ronaldo‘s “adopted son” after the legend flew out to meet him.
Martunis was later recruited by Sporting Lisbon‘s prestigious academy and played there for a year before he was forced to retire in 2016, following a knee injury.
It was an amazing little beacon through this little seven-and-a-half-year-old boy.”
Ian Dovaston
SAVING GRACE
Ian explained how two decades on, his emotions around Martunis’ fight for life became more intense, despite not having spoken to the survivor since 2004.
He said: “It just feels ever stronger year by year, the emotion I feel about it and what happened to us that day.”
Ian added: “At the time I am in a foreign place, there’s lots of kind of horror around. This was a beacon of hope at the time.
“This was you know a little light that had gone off, people could make it and they could as a community, as countries, could live beyond this.
“It was an amazing little beacon through this little seven-and-a-half-year-old boy.”
Ian praised the work Save the Children did with it’s Family Tracking and Reunification programme to reunite lost kids with their loved ones.
He explained that without the emergency help provided by the charity, Martunis could have died after his fight for survival.
He said: “A nurse who was dealing with an abnormality in his stomach said it was a miracle.”
Ian revealed that his main takeaway 20 years on from the catastrophic Boxing Day tsunami was that kids in unimaginable positions, like Martunis in 2004, needed support.
He told The Sun: “As a species, we need to look after children better.”