SINGAPORE – As the news of the deadly 2004 tsunami in Indonesia’s Aceh province started to trickle in, Straits Times photographer Aziz Hussin was informed to fly over to Indonesia immediately to cover the story. A flight had already been booked for him. 

His journey to Aceh, however, was anything but straightforward. 

After four cancelled flights, he finally landed at Medan. A 14-hour car ride then took him to Aceh – but even this had road blocks from the start.

Mr Aziz, who worked for the national paper from the 1980s to 2016, recalled that no locals wanted to take him to Aceh, as many did not dare to drive to the disaster zone. Undeterred, Mr Aziz contacted a travel agency, who linked him up the next day with eight other French journalists who wanted to travel to Aceh as well.

During the long drive, he had run-ins with Members of The Free Aceh Movement, a separatist group that sought independence for Aceh. Carrying M16 assault rifles, they stopped them at the Aceh border and demanded money.

Speaking in their native tongue, he managed to bargain their asking price down by half.

After two days on the road, he managed to snap what ended up being the most memorable photo of his career, which depicts locals walking about debris surrounded by a large pool of water.