This is a true story of seven fishermen who swam for nine hours in the middle of the ocean at midnight. Salty water and immense darkness pervaded all around. Besides battling high waves, and freezing temperatures, every moment could have been a death trap for them.. but they didn't stop and survived after swimming through choppy waters for nine straight hours. Currently, all of them are admitted to the government hospital in Bhatkal. One among them could not survive but the remaining seven did.
Eight fishermen went out to the Arabian Sea from Bhatkal on a boat named ‘Guru Anugraha’ on Wednesday at around 5 pm. In a few hours, a heavy storm built up and rains followed. Their boat flipped. At that time they were about 10 km away from the shore. They tried to turn the boat around but they could not. Finally, they left the boat and decided to swim.
“The boat flipped. We tried to take a pew again into the boat. But we could not. Then all of us decided to swim together. We lost our vigour completely in the middle of the sea, Finally ‘Matsya Deepa’ reached us like God’s grace” – Subraya Krishna Kharvi.
Pandu Nagappa Kharvi (42), Krishna Chandrakantha Kharvi (26), Nagesh Babu Kharvi (33), Ramdas Masti Kharvi (35), Madeva Krishna Kharvi (35), Subraya Krishna Kharvi (32), Ajit Govind Kharvi (26) survived the nine-hour ordeal to reach the shore. are the survivors. Manjunath Babu Kharvi (35) drowned in the ocean and the coastguards are searching for his corpse.
The fishermen swam for nine hours. Finally, around 2 am, ‘Matsya Deep’, a rescue boat found them and hauled them out of the sea. The boat, however, could not find Manjunath. The other seven were battling with life by then, feeble after nine hours of swimming.
Experienced fishermen say that their self-confidence, valour and professional experience saved them.
