Recovered digital photos show tsunami wave (Awesome Pics)

[DustMolecule]

<snip>
VANCOUVER, Canada (AP) -- 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 December 26...

...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
<snip>

Story is here: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/02/24/tsunami.digital.photos.ap/index.html

Link to pics: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/world/0502/gallery.tsunami.photos/frameset.exclude.html

on edit: fixed link

[Megahurtz]

1. Damn!

Get out the surfboard!B-)

[RobertSeattle]

2. These were pictures taken right before they were killed by the same waves

[DustMolecule]

6. You really have to wonder about what they were thinking

as they were taking the pics....perhaps started out as taking pics of a "curious phenomenon". Then did they have an "oh shit" moment as the enormity of the thing came close?

[RobertSeattle]

13. I bet they had no clue

Tsunamis are so relatively rare I doubt I would have had any idea what to do either.

[Pirate Smile]

3. That is sad.

:-(

[TexGal NotBushGal]

21. I agree

I feel kind of dirty for being fascinated by those poor peoples dying images.

[NashVegas]

4. I'm Torn

On one hand: "put the fucking camera down and RUN."

On the other, I can't help but wonder if they knew they were done for when they saw it coming, and figured they may as well ...

[Pirate Smile]

11. I honestly don't think people had a clue what the hell was happening.

[NYC]

5. Those are incredible photographs.

Thanks for posting.

[woosh]

7. better link

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/world/0502/gallery.tsunami.photos/frameset.exclude.html

[DustMolecule]

8. Thanks - I changed it in the original post n/t

[Worst Username Ever]

9. Something tells me this guy didn't make it.

[Neverarepublican]

10. My guess

is that they had no idea what was coming,

[Willy Lee]

12. Those people just walking on the beach-

Wouldn't you think they would be running for higher ground? Amazing.

[IndianaGreen]

14. Amazing the difference in size between the normal waves in the foreground

and the huge waves in the background. These are great photos that can be used to educate people on what to look for when there is a tsunami approaching. The receding tide should alert coastal residents of impending doom.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. Yes, the moral of this story is:

If you're ever on a beach and the sea recedes suddenly, run like hell for higher ground!

[PA Democrat]

17. There was a little girl (Age 10 I think) who had learned about tsunamis

in school, and when she saw the ocean receding, she warned people at the resort where she was staying to get to higher ground. Apparently there was a 10 minute time frame between when the ocean receded and the arrival of the big waves.

[Streetdoc270]

19. I learned that lesson from watching 'Deep Impact'

when the ocean receaded right before the huge wave!

[wordslikelead]

16. huh..

I, like the rest of you, am just amazed that they just sat there taking pictures while this huge wave came at them. I mean...that's just like on movies where people don't move out of the way, and just stand there screaming while something falls on them or something.

[Blaq Dem]

18. They must've been in a state of shock. n/t

[LizW]

20. The tsunami is strangely deceiving

In some of the videos I saw, the waves just didn't look very large. But they kept coming and coming and the water got deeper and deeper. I think people just had no idea of the power of the thing until it was too late.

And, of course, in some places the waves were so large that it wouldn't have made any difference if they had recognized what was happening.

[jayctravis]

23. Water is deceptive sometimes.

We are used to seeing images from films of crashing walls of water, but that's not how it happens. A wave will not break until it reaches the shallows, so by the time the tsunami is curling over and breaking to make someone go "oh shit!" it's far too late to get out of the way if you're on the beach.

Looking out at a vast horizon of ocean it's likely that a huge bulge in the surface moving at the beach isn't noticable to an untrained observer. And it's not at all like those aforementioned movies with crashing walls of water. The water from the tsunami isn't even that deep once it gets to land, but the problem with water is that volume is heavy and it's moving, and there's no getting out of its way.

As with tornadoes, the danger isn't necessarily the wind or the water, the danger is the massive force moving debris.

[Ready4Change]

22. Interesting. In the second picture...

It looks like they were higher up when they took the second picture. (The first picture of the beach.) People have a kind of monkey curiousity. When something interesting is going on, they want to get closer. They probably saw those bigger waves out there and said "Hey, lets go down and see them arrive."

People on the beach are probably walking and exploring the exposed sea bed from the receded waters. Again, monkey curiousity. Take a good look now that you have the chance.

And even though the wave is fast moving, over the distances involved it doesn't LOOK that fast. They can see out to the horizon there. Jets look slow at that distance.

As they took that last picture they were likely realizing "Hey, uh, it's not stopping....." By then, too late.

Sad. They might have had a chance had they stayed on the original, higher ground.

[DELUSIONAL]

24. It is amazing to me how many people didn't realize

that when the tide suddenly goes out -- that means run like hell for high ground.

Growing up in Hawaii -- that got pounded into my head as a youngster -- if the tide suddenly goes way out -- DO NOT GO OUT to the uncovered sea bed. This is NOT natural -- run run run. But then I grew up among the Native Hawaiians who have a very strong oral tradition -- they were repeating what their parents and grand parents told them.

I do hope that people of the world have been educated -- that the next time this happens instead of just standing there or going out to look at the exposed sea bed -- people will run for their lives.

It's sad to see the final photos of this couple -- in the first one they are very much alive -- but we know they have just a few days to live.

[nookiemonster]

25. It's so surreal...

That is just unfathomable. God bless 'em. :-(

[Dover]

26. Reminds me of another event caught on film in Alaska

which showed a popular coastal cove full of hundreds of sightseers on the craggy shoreline. Suddenly everyone sees off in the distance about a mile away that a large piece of ice from a tall island/iceberg has suddenly broken off and slipped into the ocean. Everyone is standing around watching this with awe as a wave generated by this event comes nearer and nearer. By the time people realize the danger they are in there is no escape and the wave takes everyone that isn't situated very high on the rock ledge of the cove.
They were there, then they were gone. End of story.

[woosh]

27. i've seen that

I think they ended up moving the town because of it.

[DuaneBidoux]

28. Wow! Nature she don't lie.

[Straight Shooter]

29. They looked like a happy couple, with very sweet smiles.

I can't imagine the horror they felt as they clung to one another and then the tsunami forced them apart, to feel the one you love being torn away from you when you need that person most.

May they rest in peace.

[TankLV]

30. Stupid people.

Sorry, but these people are prime candidates for the darwin awards.

"Gotta get this on film, I could make a bundle" is more likely to be their last thoughts before "oh shit!"

The rest of the people on the beach are running and screaming, but these morons are still filming instead of trying to save their sorry asses.

Sad, but there are more persons deserving of pity.

[barackmyworld]

31. the people on the beach weren't running!

They are not even looking at the wave, they look like they are strolling. Nobody has their arms up in a running position.

Definitely not darwin award material, people just don't have experience with this kind of thing and don't understand it.