Sea TA l ES AT

Tell us a little about yourselves … one of the guys who came with us was a boat captain and full of experience but he also couldn’t do much at the time. The water kept on coming in, and due to lack of balance caused the boat to flip over on us and it sunk. out in the water, everything else floated and Yaqoob grabbed whatever food and drink he could and stored them in the ice box.

We are a group of friends composed mainly of Ahmed Sanad, ebrahim Fakhroo and Yaqoob Al-Muftah. every now and then, we go out using a small boat about 16 feet in size. We normally go from Galali and then to Amwaj Islands to go fishing and diving.

What was the most difficult experience you’ve been through?

About a year ago, a day before the start of Ramadan, we decided to take a boat trip early in the morning. We went with a different group of people for the first time, and a boat, which was 25 feet which had a single engine – this was another thing new to us. Before going on the trip, we had some problems with the engine so we took it to a mechanic – who, after checking said it was in good condition. So moving forward with our plans, we took about a 45 to 60-minute cruise and after which we stopped and Yaqoob and Ahmed Sanad took a dive, with the three of us deciding to remain in the boat.

That day the water current was opposite to the direction of the winds – causing a lot of water to enter our boat. Yaqoob came out of his dive and tried taking control of the situation. However, when he tried to start the engine it failed, and we didn’t carry any mobile phones with us, so we couldn’t call for help. By this time Ahmed had also come back up from his dive.

This happened at 12noon and we were located quite close to Qatar. It only took 30 minutes for all this to happen which was very surprising. From 12 noon until midnight we held onto a katra (a long inflated rubber log like which is attached to the sides of the boat. We tied the unused diving suits to one end of the log and the floater to the other end, to keep it afloat.

We all held onto the log to keep us afloat but what really saved our lives was the waterproof flashlight that was in one of the diving suits. We would flash the SoS sign to seek help if there was any plane or boat passing by.

A group of divers, who also go on frequent fishing trips, decided to go for a dive one day. But what seemed like a ‘normal’ day out at sea suddenly took a turn for the worse. Here we interview Rashed and Yaqoob AlMufta, who tell us their story…

We never used to carry mobile phones with us on our dives. Now we always do. Safety is now our number one concern; so we always bring life jackets and take more precautions.

We eventually saw blue light coming from far away, so we kept making the SoS sign using flash light, until we could see that the source of blue light kept getting closer and closer. They eventually found us – these were members of the Coast Guard which were sent to search for us.

How have things changed after this event?

We never used to carry mobile phones with us on our dives. Now we always do. Safety is now our number one concern; so we always bring life jackets and take more precautions.

Advice for all:

- Take precautions and always put safety first, the sea is unpredictable and being out in the water can be extremely dangerous.

- Never act foolishly; it could cost you your life and those of others.

- ensure that your whereabouts are known –give the exact location of your trip, how long and where you intend to be, a list of names going on the trip, etc.