Boxing Day 2004 was the last time Frida and Sofie Isaksson saw their parents.
They spent the last morning of their Thailand trip on the beach on Phi Phi Island when the tidal wave hit the island.
– The security disappeared there, says Frida Isaksson. It was completely empty.
The whole family had traveled to Thailand to celebrate father Sven-Anders’ 50th birthday together with mother Ann-Christine, daughters Frida and Sofie, and their boyfriends.
On the morning of Boxing Day, they were on the beach early to enjoy the last rays of the sun before heading home, when the tidal wave suddenly hit.
Frida and Sofie remember the wall of water coming.
– I see a boat coming riding on this high wave and think that now we will die if we get this in our heads. You can’t survive this, says Sofie.
“It became completely empty”
Afterwards they cannot find their parents.
– They are identified, but we have never received an answer to what happened to them, says Sofie.
Father Sven-Anders came home in a coffin on Valentine’s Day, after just over a month. Mother Ann-Christin was not identified until March.
– It was completely empty. The security disappeared, says Frida. We had each other, and it was great. But your parents are your base when you are 20 years old, she says with tears in her throat.
The grief remains 20 years later
Despite the fact that 20 years have passed and that both Frida and Sofie have created their own families with the boyfriends who were there, the loss is still there.
Both agree that it feels strange to have lived their entire adult life without their parents being part of anything that happened.
– It feels like a huge sadness that they didn’t get to experience becoming grandma and grandpa, says Frida. We think of them a lot and miss them a lot.