Five fishermen who were stranded in the middle of the ocean for more than three weeks and ended up on an island off the coast of Thailand were flown back to Sri Lanka yesterday morning.
According to their story, the fishermen set out from Dondra harbour on June 26 in their fishing boat, “Samanala”. On the fourth day the engine failed, and the boat started to drift out to sea.
By the third week the men had run out of food and drinking water. They quenched their thirst by sucking on ice from the ice box in which the fish was stocked. Twenty-nine days later they spotted an island and swam out to it.
“We walked for more than five miles before we met anyone,” said Asanka Lakmal, one of the fishermen. “We told the man our story and he took us to the police. We were then taken to the mainland. We arrived after a two-hour journey.”
Mr. Lakmal said the police kept them in custody for five days and then produced them in court.
The five men were next taken to a prison in Bangkok, where they kept for 20 days. During their incarceration, the fishermen learned that some 64 Tamil nationals had been arrested after entering Thailand without visas.
According to fisherman P. G. Dharshana, the five men were given stale food in the prison in Bangkok. He said the Sri Lankan embassy in Bangkok arranged for their return to Sri Lanka, and provided them with air tickets.
The five fishermen – P. G. Dharshana (23), Dinesh Udayakumara (20), Upul Tharanga (25), T. G. Dinesh (19), and Asanka Lakmal (26) are all residents of Devinuwara.
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