‘We were falling over bodies’: ABC journalist recalls horrors of 2004 Boxing Day tsunami

Tim Palmer in Banda Aceh in 2004. ‘As a result of us going for five days to the worst spot, in the worst natural disaster of the century, we were able to provide direct satellite news.’ Photograph: ABC

The former ABC Indonesia correspondent Tim Palmer says the sight of dozens of tiny bodies lined up was the most heart-rending scene he witnessed in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

“Family after family had their children sucked from their grasp; they were actually holding them and holding a tree at the same time and were still not able to save their infant child,” Palmer says.