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The ship had sailed off from New Mangalore Port on the eve of 21st June 2007 had stalled due to an engine trouble at 2 nautical miles. It is reported that the captain Abraham N Kwaw initially rejected any kind of help offered by the Police and cost guard people and has said that it was a minor problem and sail with some repairs in the engine room.
Soon after at 11.30 pm on Friday night the captain Kwaw had sent an SOS stating that he wanted immediate help. On this request the Additional Superintendent of Police B.S. Lokesh Kumar and the Coast Guard had responded quickly but at that time the weather had played truant and the police and the Coast Guard found the going tough as the waves in the sea had grown out of size and none of the navy coast guard or the local fishermen could do anything but to watch and hoping that the weather gave some respite which was not to be.
On Saturday morning the ship was already tilting as so much water had entered its hold and engine room and people witnessing the tragedy unfolding before their very own eyes could feel that the ship was doomed. At this point of time the district administration took decisions to save the crew immediately as the ship was showing signs of capsizing.
The efforts to press a Coast Guard and Navy Helicopters from Kochi and Panaji failed, as the weather was too rough and twice the helicopter tried to take off from Kochi but the weather here had gone from bad to worse making air lifting of the marooned crew impossible. The Coast Guard Ship Annie Besant also tried to approach the ship in distress from the Western side but due to the ship being very close to the shore the Coast Guard thought it's dangerous to attempt any rescue. The weather worsened further and that was also the end of all rescue operations.
At 2 PM 12 crew members of the ship launched themselves into two rubber dinghies from the ship but due to rough seas the dinghies were torn into pieces and two of the crew members died due to drowning. Their bodies have been recovered by the local fishermen.
At 2.45 pm the Ship finally started to capsize on its side shocking thousands of people gathered just 300 meters away on the shore. Just before the Ship disappeared into the sea six of its crew members abandoned the ship and swam to safety and were taken to hospital in waiting ambulances. Eight crew members who were still trapped under the ship emerged one by one and all except one swam to safety. The fate of the last sailor is yet to be established.
It’s proved here that Modern technology, manpower and facilities were helpless in front of fury of Nature. Thousands of people stood there on the beach just 300 meters away from the ship without able to do anything but many of them praying. Many of them had not even had their food but were just praying for the safety of those sailors. Men were cursing the government and other departments for not able to rescue these sailors and many Women were crying. But at the same time some other people were too busy in picking up the things to take home which have come sailing from the ship.
Local fishermen got the praise from all people gathered there for rescuing many sailors and it’s said that without their help there would have been more deaths. It was heartening to see the Local fishermen along with the fishermen from Ullal, rescuing the sailors without any protection for their own Life..
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