Heroic feats of fishermen in divers life–saving saga

By Ananda Agalakada

With the news of the four divers who were lost at sea, the real heroes of the sea drama has faded into oblivion. The heroic acts of the fishermen who braved the weather to locate the lost divers must be rewarded. The authorities concerned must give them due recognition is the view of the public. If not for these poor fishermen the divers may not have been found. Miracle and luck is needed to get over tragedies. We often hear how one miraculously escaped from a motor accident or from a serious illness.

Olivenzo Arnolda

Mohamed Aswas

Hakeem Hussain

In this case, the fishermen were determined to find the divers and they braved life and limb in this endeavour. These fishermen had sacrificed their earnings for the day and their only focus was to locate the divers.

But for the four divers and the saga that unfolded on and beneath the high seas off Mount Lavinia’s shore, one could say it was divine intervention that saved their lives.

The daring adventure began last Sunday when three enthusiastic divers along with a diving instructor boarding a small boat to take them into the deep sea for a dip after a diving adventure. The four divers included a French national and three Sri Lankans including the diving instructor.

After selecting a location in the deep sea, they had asked the boat operator to anchor the boat and keep vigil. The boatman was given a specific time about their arrival. However panic bells began to ring as the party did not turn up on schedule. The boatman had looked around for the diving party, but was unable to trace them. Fearing the worst he decided to return to shore seeking help.

Later on according to sources what had really happened was that the party after their diving stint had surfaced form beneath the sea to board the boat. However, they had missed the location and surfaced at a different spot. At this moment tragedy struck when a strong current carried them away. Out of the four men three stayed together, while the instructor disappeared from the group.

When the news broke out that a diving party had disappeared the Sri Lanka Navy and the Dehiwela rural fisheries organisation commenced an operation to rescue them. The rural fisheries organisation deployed four boats while the Navy started the search operation deploying one craft. As time lapsed and almost 24 hours passed by a large crowd gathered at Mount Lavinia beach fearing the worst. Relatives of the divers could not help, but weep because there was no trace of the divers.

In the meantime, the operation to look for the party went unhindered. The search parties were determined to find some clue about the whereabouts of the divers. At this moment, news broke that one diver has been rescued as far away as in Panadura by the fishing vessel ‘Nimsara Putha’. We saw two eagles swooping towards the sea when we went fishing and instructed the crew to direct the boat in that direction as there could be a fish field at that location.

When we reached we saw a person clinging onto a coconut branch. We immediately rushed to the location and rescued him.

He was exhausted, but in high spirits. We abandoned our fishing trip and returned to shore.

Although we lost our trade we were happy to save a life said Manjula, a fisherman in the boat.

Although there was a sigh of relief for some, hopes were fading out about the other three missing divers with the lapse of almost 24 hours. At the time the Dehiwela search party had intensified their search as time was fast running out.

The Dehiwela rural fisheries organisation chairman Sujith Silva said he had instructed his crew to intensify search operations as time was running out.

On his instructions the search party diversified the search as a last minute effort to save the three divers.

It was then that the cellular phone of Sujit rang. There was pin drop silence when he broke the news. They havd been rescued. The search party had rescued the three divers who were floating exhausted with their life jackets on. The adventure of a modern odyssy ended on a positive note, thanks to the heroic acts of some poor fishermen who braved their lives to save the four divers. Don’t they deserve accolades from the nation?