'The wave came straight for us' - Somerset man returns to Thailand 20 years after Boxing Day tsunami
Luke Simon tells ITV News' Richard Payne how he and his brother Piers were 'inseparable'
A man who lost his brother in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami has returned to the scene of the disaster 20 years after the wave struck.
Luke Simon, from Somerset, who was 30 at the time, was celebrating Christmas with his brother Piers and three friends on the island of Ko Phi Phi, in Thailand, when the tsunami hit.
"The wave came straight for us," he said. "If we looked ahead, where we should have seen market and buildings and palm trees, suddenly the whole horizon was boiling and bubbling up in front of us".
Luke said he spent five days searching for his brother in the aftermath of the disaster, until his body was eventually found on New Year's Eve.
He then faced the heartbreaking task of calling his parents in Somerset to break the news.
Luke has been recalling what happened on the day of the tsunami as part of an ITV documentary which will be aired next week, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the disaster.
The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia which registered a magnitude of up to 9.3.
Nearly a quarter of a million people were killed and around two million people were left homeless across 14 countries.
"This year I've been more emotional than any other year I would say, because we've been involved in things that really are marking the 20th anniversary," Luke said.
Two decades after the wave struck, Luke has returned to the island of Ko Phi Phi as part of the documentary.
"The spirit of the island is still there, I would say, so when I was on Phi Phi, I didn't feel like I was being transported back to the tsunami".
"I felt like I was being transported back to the really fun island where we were having a great time".
Upon arriving back in the UK after the tsunami, Luke set up a charity in Piers’ memory, which initially aimed to support the people of Thailand, but now sends school supplies to disadvantaged children around the world.
20 years on, Luke still runs the charity School in a Bag and has delivered more than 150,000 school bags containing stationery, learning resources, eating utensils, and hygiene kits to children across 57 countries.
He said the charity has now received additional funding, which he hopes will enable them to include more items in the school bags such as sports kits and digital technology.
"I feel like we've built a foundation in 20 years, and now we're at a point where we've got some funding, and we've got personnel involved where we can really start making it bigger and that's exciting," Luke said.
He added: "Knowing what we're doing in Piers' memory, and that in 30 years we'll still be doing it, you know that's a nice feeling, as we keep remembering him".
Tsunami: The Wave That Shook the World airs on 27 December on ITV1 and ITVX.