Mohan Kuthar
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Sep 8: In what may be termed as a miracle on the day of Nativity Feast, fisherman Arthur Sunil Coelho, a resident of Ullal Hoige who went missing after his boat developed technical snag late night on Sunday September 6, was rescued by Malpe fishermen off Kumble coast in Kasargod on Tuesday September 8.
Arthur, who survived a whopping 30 hours at sea on a dinghy after being cut off from the main purse seine boat, said he drank rainwater to stay alive and prayed to the patron saint of Thokkottu church that he may return home for the Nativity Feast.
Arthur Sunil Coelho
Darwin
Arthur recalled that winds were strong when his boat was cut off from the main purse seine boat. Initially, he was worried when the main boat was not visible. But then he mustered courage and started emptying the rainwater accumulated in his dinghy and took shelter under a plastic sheet. In the morning he found that he was off the Kumble coast, Kerala.
"There were no boats nearby but I could see boats far away. I prayed to the patron saint of my native church that I may be rescued and get to celebrate Nativity Feast along with my family. This hope kept me going for two days. On Tuesday morning when I saw a boat coming towards me, I tied a white sack to a stick and signalled for help. Noticing this, the fisherman who were from Malpe rescued me and took me to my boat and gave me food and water for bath," Arthur said.
45-year-old Arthur has been in the fishing business for the last 35 years and is an expert swimmer. He has three children - Sachin, Roshan and Sunitha. He was without a job during the lockdown and is now back into fishing along with Philip, Raymond D'Souza, Ranjith D'Souza, Darwin, Anil, Jostin, Kishan, Ashok D'Souza, Steevan Naveen Veigas and some others from Mogaveerapatna and Ullal, totalling team of upto 30 members.
On September 6 morning, the team of 30 members had gone fishing in purse seine boat named 'Falcon'. Late night, when they were 28 miles away from the coast, heavy winds started blowing. Arthur had gone on a dinghy for fishing. During this time the Falcon broke down because of a technical fault and another boat was used to pull it away. In the process, the small rope that had held Arthur's dinghy and the boat together broke, and Arthur drifted apart before going missing. His team members searched for him and also sought help from other boats nearby and entered Mangaluru port early on September 7.
Darwin, one of the fishermen, recalls that two team members had dived into the sea to search Arthur but had to abandon because of heavy wind and rains. "When the Falcon boat had broken down, the owner was informed and another nearby boat was called in for help, and in the process of restarting the boat, the dinghy rope broke and Arthur went missing," he said.