# 10-year-old girl saved hundreds from tsunami **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 2, 2005, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674 "2005-01-02T08:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674/21 "2005-01-03T06:02:04Z")
> [@alaska56](#): > > Its a good story true or not That attitude is the reason so many email in-boxes are filled up with glurge. Thank you so very much. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674/22 "2005-01-03T10:31:19Z")
In the interest of fighting glurge, and since I posted the OP, [here’s](http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004610510,00.html) a truncated version of the original print article (that I read in a newsagents), with a photograph of the family, and [here’s](http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,31-2004610471,00.html) an op-ed about it. The article says she attends Danes Hill school, in Oxshott, Surrey. [Here](http://www.daneshillschool.co.uk/) is the school’s website. [This](http://www.itv.com/news/world_1535151.html) is another article from a more respectable news source about the incident, that strongly resembles the original Sun print story, but doesn’t cite it as its source. That article quotes the school’s headmaster: > [@](#): > > …her headteacher Robin Parfitt said she had “wisdom beyond her years” [Here](http://www.daneshillschool.co.uk/rpwelcome.htm) is a picture of an “R. Parfitt (M.A., M.Sc.) Headmaster”. So many of the details seem to check out. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674/23 "2005-01-03T10:40:20Z")
Another bit of searching reveals that The New York Post has reprinted another Sun article that differs from the original that I saw. This article has an [interview with the American manager](http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/37579.htm) of the [Marriott hotel](http://marriott.com/property/propertypage.mi?marshaCode=HKTJW) at which they were staying: > [@](#): > > “I think it’s phenomenal that Tilly’s parents and the others on the beach are alive because she studied hard at school,” said Craig Smith, the American manager of the JW Marriott Hotel where Tilly’s family was staying. [Here](http://www.asiatraveltips.com/travelnews03/1510Manager.shtml) is an article about Mr Smith’s appointment to this position and a picture of him. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674/24 "2005-01-03T11:22:48Z")
Yes it does look as though the story checks out. It is just my inbuilt mistrust of anything printed in the _Sun_ that made me doubt it. Well done that girl. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674/25 "2005-01-03T11:25:26Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > here’s a truncated version of the original print article (that I read in a newsagents) Sure, **jjimm**. In a newsagent’s 😉 . Anyway, I don’t think you need to defend your source quite so vigourously. For all the flak it gets here, it’s no _National Enquirer_. As you said, it’s not in the habit of just inventing stories wholesale. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674/26 "2005-01-03T11:31:42Z")
> [@Usram](#): > > Sure, **jjimm**. In a newsagent’s 😉 . Honestly. Well OK it was a petrol station. > [@](#): > > Anyway, I don’t think you need to defend your source quite so vigourously. For all the flak it gets here, it’s no _National Enquirer_. As you said, it’s not in the habit of just inventing stories wholesale. I was at a loose end and there was some doubt, so I thought I’d have a look for some sort of corroboration. I’m not emotionally involved in the story’s validity, though I am glad that it seems to check out. ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674/27 "2005-01-03T13:38:02Z")
…gee, I think Hallboy would have been one who rushed out to pick up the flopping fishies… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674/28 "2005-01-04T00:03:44Z")
Just a note about _The Sun_. It is not a _Weekly World News_ or _Daily Sport_ type of paper. It does adhere to the basic tenets of journalism pretty strictly. Sure, it will go for a sensationalist angle, but VERY rarely would they fall for and print an urban legend. Just because it is a downmarket paper does not mean it is not accurate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/10-year-old-girl-saved-hundreds-from-tsunami/282674.md?page=1)