Mohammed Sajid
Port Blair, Jan 30: Meet the brave hearts. Andaman Sheekha team traced out the crew members of MV Jaikar, the boat which was present when the tourist boat MV Aqua Marine was sinking near North Bay Island. Five crew members of MV Jaikar demonstrated exceptional courage and saved 10 tourists from drowning.
But sadly in return, instead of acknowledgement they were attacked by the tourists present in their boat. The team leader Thamba Master recalls the arrogant and selfish behavior of tourists present in his boat on that day.
“They started shouting and abusing us, forcing us to leave the place and take them to safety. They started throwing every equipment and thing present in my boat into water to force us to leave the place. They even slapped one crew member and attacked me,” he recalls.
They had thrown nearly 26 life jackets to the passengers of MV Aqua Marina but got only five life jackets back that too they had to take a small dinghy and search all along the coastal belt.
Even out of three floating buoys they got only one buoy back.
Two of the crew members who were in water for maximum duration have fallen ill since that day and are on leave for treatment.
But talking to Andaman Sheekha they said that they don’t regret the losses as they were able to save 10 people. “The only regret is that we could have saved others if the tourists in our boat would have cooperated with us,” Thamba Master added.
It would be our loss, if we fail to acknowledge the good work done by Thamba Master and his team. Hope that the Administration will acknowledge the contribution of these five brave men and honour them with LG’s Commendation Certificate.
Big Big salute to brave crew members…….
such incident shouldn’t be repeat!