<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>Exclusive:</span></strong><span> Michael Tyrell was a 21-year-old enjoying the simple life on Thailand's Phi Phi Island after spending about eight months travelling around the world.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>One morning at breakfast, the screams started. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Then he saw crowds of people running from the shore.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/kazakhstan-plane-crash-azerbaijan-airlines-plane-crashes-near-aktau/2703e6ee-aab6-49f4-a6b2-dc0bbbe53c0c" rel="" target="_blank" title="Dozens feared dead after fiery Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan"><strong><span>Dozens feared dead after fiery Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Kazakhstan</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Tyrell heard what he assumed were helicopters whirring above and thought there had been a terrorist attack.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In reality, it was the Boxing Day tsunami.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When he looked closer towards what people were running from, he noticed buildings were exploding.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/2004-boxing-day-tsunami-indian-ocean-20-year-anniversary-michael-tyrell/41265a43-1168-4fda-8480-63677eac288a" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He doesn't remember what he saw next but it was enough for him to turn and join the stampede. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I'm running past people and I got to a little intersection where I could have kept going parallel to the beach or I could have gone away from it and I turned left," he told 9news.com.au.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"There was a little hill and someone was up high. Mum reckons it was an angel because I never found him again. But he said 'You can come up here, get up here, it's high ground'. It was in an American voice.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"By the time I scrambled up a little bit and turned around, the whole thing was upside down."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A tsunami caused by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia in the Indian Ocean had struck the island.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Waves continued to lash the island, with survivors screaming from rooftops that another one was coming and to brace for impact. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Tyrell waited for what felt like 30 minutes for the waves to finally subside.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He stepped down from the hill and was confronted with a woman's body on the ground in front of him. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Realising what had happened, he and the remaining survivors went down and began to pull people who were stuck to safety.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Tyrell and three others used a broken door to carry the dead and wounded to where a makeshift hospital had formed.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"A sheet must have come across me, I was like this is the new norm, it's a whole new world," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/king-charles-christmas-message-monarch-focuses-on-healthcare-workers-in-year-marked-by-royal-illnesses/f847c71b-d99d-46b0-bfcd-0bbe161ff7bf" rel="" target="_blank" title="King Charles III focuses Christmas message on healthcare workers in year marked by royal illnesses"><strong><span>King Charles III focuses Christmas message on healthcare workers in year marked by royal illnesses</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>There were not too many people left where he was. About 2500 of the 5000 people on the island had died. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"My therapy was pitching in and pulling people out. I couldn't live with myself if I just stayed at the top of that island," he said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When he finally went to sleep late that first night, he could feel all the island's insects that had retreated to the hill crawling over him. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"That's what haunted me for years after it. I'd wake up feeling those things crawl over me," he said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The next day, he found a young girl who had been stuck in mud overnight and helped pull her to safety. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Tyrell never forgot the roar of the wave he ran from. He was also wracked with guilt for running and surviving while thousands of others died.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Having the chance to run from the wave and get to safety but also run past a lot of people, that definitely traumatised me in terms of nightmares for years after it," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bronte-beach-sydney-man-injured-christmas-day/be1a3b2b-da9d-4057-8be9-79e8543725e5" rel="" target="_blank" title="Man injured after jumping from cliff into pool at Sydney beach"><strong><span>Man injured after jumping from cliff into pool at Sydney beach</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But he also knew he had a second shot at life, having avoided becoming one of the more than 225,000 people killed worldwide that day.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Tyrell eventually returned to Australia and worked as a lawyer, fighting for the elderly, disabled and mentally ill. Then, he decided to take over his father's business, Survival, selling first-aid kits for emergency situations.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He returned to Thailand for the 10th anniversary of the disaster, where he encountered a man who he had carried to safety after his back was broken in the tsunami.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We had this emotional embrace," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's pretty emotional when you see someone that you actually carried out and they survived."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/russia-ukraine-russia-targets-ukrainian-energy-infrastructure-on-christmas-day/2eac6208-5d65-4ed6-af86-7452f5ad3f17" rel="" target="_blank" title="Russia targets Ukrainian energy infrastructure on Christmas Day"><strong><span>Russia targets Ukrainian energy infrastructure on Christmas Day</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>For the 20th anniversary today, Tyrell has taken his wife and two young children back to Phi Phi Island to retrace his steps.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The kids are really in tune. They really cried and asked those questions when they found out a few years back," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They're always asking, 'What's the tsunami? What was it like?'.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They're really keen to go and see where it was and hear the story firsthand while we're over there and experience it."</span></div></div>