Sky News Daily

Replay: The Boxing Day tsunami survivor who inspired Ronaldo

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Episode notes

This year, Boxing Day marks the twentieth anniversary of the tsunami that caused 230,000 deaths around Southeast Asia.  

So with the Daily on a brief break, we're replaying an episode of Storycast which tells the story of Martunis.  

On 26 December 2004, one of the deadliest disasters in history struck when tsunami waves - triggered by a massive earthquake - led to around 230,000 deaths in South East Asia.

A Sky News camera crew would discover an eight-year-old boy named Martunis among the devastation.

Their subsequent report was seen by Cristiano Ronaldo - the Portuguese football star, known to many as the greatest player of his generation, but less so for his role in this remarkable survival story.
 
Martunis has told his story in full for the first time in Miracle Boy, the first episode of StoryCast '21 - a Sky News podcast series telling 21 extraordinary personal stories from some of the biggest news events of the century. 

Producer: Soila Apparicio
Digital production: David Chipakupaku
Editor: Philly Beaumont