It is a story of survival. A man adrift on the high seas for 15 weeks. He suffered great anguish in deep waters facing one calamity after another. He saw one of his mates snatched away by the merciless wind, the others on board dying a slow and painful death due to dehydration. Yet after many trials, he survived and returned to tell the tale…
K. D. Mahesh Padmakumara was the sole survivor of a group of five on a multi-day fishing trawler that sailed from the Beruwala harbour in March to Mauritius.
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| Mahesh reliving the horror of his ordeal. |
Coming back to Sri Lanka after a harrowing ordeal out at sea for around 15 weeks, 28-year-old Mahesh who returned home last Wednesday, sat down with the Sunday Times to narrate his near death experience. When the five-member fishing group of Amal Premarathne (from Galle), Ajith Priyantha Fernando, Ranjith Nimalsiri, U.K. Nihal and Mahesh (from Beruwala) left on their journey on March 19 little did they realised the calamity that was in store for them. Upon reaching their destination after travelling for about 18 days, the fishermen went about their business as usual over the next 65 days, says Mahesh. Their fishing trip was highly successful and it was in mid June that the crew decided it was time for them to return.
On the fifth day of their journey back home, at around 3 a.m. the boat broke down. It was a technical problem, Mahesh recalls. “We tried to restart the boat several times but we couldn’t. Since our owner used to contact us from land at around 8.30 a.m. every day we thought we should wait until he communicated with us to ask him to how we should repair the engine. We got instructions from him,” says Mahesh adding that although they tried to repair the engine and restart the boat for five days they were not successful. In the meantime they lost communications with land as radio signals in the boat too died.
Priyantha, who was in charge of the boat, cautioned the rest of the crew that they should somehow move from their location as the seas were very rough. From there they manoeuvred the boat towards the Seychelles for about one and half months with the help of a sail but conditions were difficult due to heavy storms, according to Mahesh.
Many were the terrifying encounters with gales and huge waves. “Due to the strong winds we were pushed towards Somalian waters. Then we ran out of food. We usually take items like rice, dhal and other provisions when we travel and we all get together and prepare the meals on board. So we had to eat raw fish which we caught from the sea,” he recalls.
While floating towards the coast of Somalia they were buffeted by the wind and ocean currents. Mahesh believes they drifted first towards Oman, Pakistan and Iran for about one and a half months and then towards the Maldives.
To prevent the water from getting collected in the engine room, the fishermen had to manually operate the boat pump and this was quite a strenuous task.
Narrating the horror of how they lost their crew leader Mahesh says, “Priyantha got caught in a storm and fell into the water while the rest of us were inside the cabin. The we were drifting towards Maldives for about a month, and at that time it wasn’t raining much. At this point we completely ran out of water. Drinking sea water is not an option as it is salty. The tank which was in the boat where we stored water too was empty at the end. We were feeling too weak to get on our feet. Nobody had hopes of surviving; we knew none of us would survive without water,” he says.
One by one, the crew members died. They had agreed that the others would put their bodies into the sea when the end came. “We agreed that if any of us survived to reach home, we would tell our families what happened,” says Mahesh.
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| Wimalawathie: Relieved and thankful |
Recalling the last moments of his fellow crew, Mahesh said some of them called the names of their daughters and wives asking them to bring water. “Nihal asked me if I could help his three little children at home if I survived. After he died I was alone for about five and was resigned to my fate when it rained all of a sudden. That is what saved me as I started feeling better after getting some water to drink,” Mahesh recalls adding that it gave him fresh hope.
Subsequently Mahesh spotted two fishing boats and waved a flag to get their attention. “I didn’t expect them to respond as the previous ships and boats we spotted and tried to get help from while floating in Somalian waters didn’t come to our rescue. I suppose since they assumed we were Somali pirates,” he says.
Much to Mahesh’s great joy the two boats he spotted this time turned around on seeing the flag and came in his direction. “When I told them what happened they took me into their boat, gave me food and water and alerted the Maldivian Coast Guard who in turn came and rescued me,” he says.
Mahesh was rescued about 350 nautical miles away from the Maldivian capital Male on October 20 when the boat was brought ashore by the Maldives Coast Guard.
Mahesh, the third in a family of two sisters and brother says that he was compelled to take up fishing, despite his mother’s objections as he was unable to find a job even with G. C. E A/L qualifications in the Commerce stream. He became a fisherman in the early part of 2010 as he wanted to support his mother who was a single parent. “I sent application after application for job vacancies, but didn’t get anything. I am fluent in Hindi too,” says Mahesh adding that after his traumatic experience he decided “never to go fishing again.”
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| Their humble home in Beruwala |
When the Sunday Times visited Mahesh’s humble abode in the outskirts of Bubulawatte, Beruwala, his mother K. V Wimalawathie explained the agony she went through not knowing the fate of her son.
“My son left home saying he would come back in three months. When he didn’t return we got worried and I asked my elder daughter to check with the boat owner who told us about the incident. I waited for months and months for him to return but he didn’t,” she says. Disatraught Wimalawathie began to seek religious blessings.
She tells us how she went to Aluthgama temple to make a vow and invoke blessings, to several sasthara geval in the village and so on. “Finally my neighbours and relatives told us to give dana in the name of my son as they thought he had died but I was adamant that he would come to see me someday,” she says. “I even wrote a letter to the President asking for help to locate my son,” Wimalawathie said.
Reunited with her son, the happy mother says that although they do not have any income, she would never send Mahesh out to sea ever again. “All I want is for him to find a safe job that suits his educational qualifications,” she adds. |
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