Tsunami in Thailand | Overtaken | 2

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As the wave barreled ashore on Thailand’s west coast, people were sucked under a powerful wall of water that was so strong it ripped the clothes off their backs. It separated husbands from wives, and parents from their children. Six miles out to sea, fisherman Wimon Thongtae raced to figure out how to position his small boat, so it could survive as one giant wave after another sped toward him.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Against the Odds early and ad-free right now.
0:05.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:09.8	A listener note, Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events.
0:15.1	Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research.
0:28.2	Thank you. may be invented, but everything is based on research. Ed Moush sprints over the exposed seabed toward the beach of P.P. Don in Thailand.
0:33.9	He has to outrun the towering wave that's closing in on him and his wife Helen. Ed can't
0:39.9	believe that barely two minutes ago they were dragging their dingy toward the sea, speculating
0:45.1	about where all the water in the bay had gone. Now they're running for their lives. He reaches
0:51.2	behind him and feels Helen grab his outstretched hand.
0:55.0	He squeezes and pulls her along, urging her to run faster.
0:59.2	Hurry!
1:00.4	He can hear the wave behind them, a churning roar that grows louder with every passing second.
1:06.8	He glances over his shoulder and sees that the wall of water has now reached a motorboat
1:11.6	marooned on the seabed.
1:13.6	The wave lifts the boat into the air, then crashes it down, splitting it into pieces.
1:19.6	He looks toward the tree line, and the grim reality hits him.
1:23.6	They're not going to escape the wave. It's moving too fast.
1:29.0	Ed stops, and now it's Helen yanking him by the arm.
1:33.0	She turns around and looks at him, wide-eyed.
1:36.0	Ed, come on, we can't stop now.
1:39.1	Ed shakes his head, yelling above the roar.
1:42.1	We won't make it. It's too far.
	...

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