Four divers diving for pleasure had a narrow escape and appear to have fortitude and a modicum of luck to thank for having lived through their ordeal, off the coast of Colombo this week.
The four divers - Patrice Germaine (37), Asmath Iqbal (31) and Naqeeb Hussain (35), all experienced divers, together with one of the clubs dive masters, Olivenso Almeida (35), took a trip out of the Colombo Divers dive club in Mount Lavinia last Sunday morning and went diving at the well-known Car Wreck dive site off Galle Face. The weather was good and the sea warm: Oli and Asmuth spurned the use of a wet suit wearing only t-shirt and shorts for the swim. They set off just after 8.15 in the morning and arrived at the dive site at about 9.45 a.m.
The divers said that the visit to the wreck was very good and nothing abnormal happened until, after 35 minutes, they returned to the surface. The boat was about 25 to 30 metres away but the divers could not attract the attention of the boatman and within about 10 minutes the strong current took them sufficiently far away that they could no longer see the boat. The current was so strong that they could not swim against it and hope to reach the boat. Following a brief discussion it was agreed that the dive master, Oli, as the strongest swimmer would swim for the boat. Tying the three divers together and leaving them his Surface Marker Buoy (SMB), Oli swam for the boat. He never returned.
The three remaining divers tried to swim for the shore, or at least get close to the shore from where they hoped to attract the attention of a boat. The current seemed to be swirling about and preventing them from making any real progress. Armed only with the inflatable SMB as a means of attracting attention, the three men tried in vain to signal passing ships and fishing vessels.
The hours passed slowly, but not once did any of the men give thought that they may not be rescued. In retrospect the fact that all four were physically fit clearly paid a significant role in their survival having eventually spent 23 hours in the balmy waters of the Indian Ocean. The sea was quite choppy and in order to prevent ingesting the salty sea water, which would have caused dehydration and vomiting, they took the novel approach of reversing their dive masks and placing it over their mouth and nose. This enabled them to breathe but without swallowing the water.
As the afternoon wore on, it became apparent that they would not be able to swim ashore. The three men, Naqeeb, Asmath, and Patrice, made a strong attempt to get within sight of land and away from the main shipping lanes; this reasoned, rational, presence of mind greatly helped the three men in their survival. With the onset of night all sense of distance disappeared and they were unable to tell if a fishing boat was 25 meters away, or 400 meters! Taking turns to get a little sleep, 10 minutes at a time, the night dragged on and despite all their efforts the twinkling lights of land was lost from sight. The night also brought the cold, the sea remained warm but the air cooled off and the swimmers, especially Naqeeb who was only wearing a t-shirt, felt the chill of the wind as they bobbed on the surface of the water; while resting, the three men huddled together for warmth and to get a few minutes sleep.
At dawn, a concerted effort was made to swim east, towards the rising sun. After about 3 to 3 ½ hours they had still not got land in sight and they had not seen any boats; it was at this point that some doubt was voiced, but quickly hushed by the other members of the group who put absolute trust in their own ability to survive and the blessing of God. Not 15 minutes later, at 9.15 a.m. they saw a small fishing vessel, waved the SMB and the fisherman waved back. The relief and joy was unbounded. Almost as soon as they were on board the fishing boat it seemed like the sea was littered with other boats, which seemed incongruous when they had not seen any during the previous 3 hours.
On reaching land, the beach at Mount Lavinia, they were greeted by a huge crowd of about 200 people there to see them home safe. Only at this point did they realise the huge rescue operation that had been mounted in order to find them. Two of the group were whisked away to spend the night in hospital, Asmath had to go visit his father who lives locally, and see his wife and eighteen month old son; sufficiently fortified he found no reason to go visit the hospital.
Later it was learned that Oli the dive master, had not been able to swim to the boat and had also been cast adrift separate from the group. He had been rescued about 5 minutes before these three.
The Colombo Dive Club has been at great pains to learn from what went wrong with this trip. Was the weather too bad to go diving no, was the sea current unusually strong no, was the dive master inexperienced no, and yet something did go wrong. Was the boatman keeping a good lookout for the returning divers clearly not, why were the divers unable to attract the attention of the boatman a good question for shout and wave as they could, they could not gain his attention before losing sight of the boat. The dive club are taking unprecedented steps to ensure the safety of future divers, each diver will be supplied with an SMB, previously only the dive master carried one, and they will have a whistle that may be used to signal the boatman.
Diving is said to be far safer than crossing the Galle Road and a growth area in the tourism industry. The narrow escape of the Famous Four from Colombo has however highlighted the need for the right equipment, good training, and an experienced guide or dive master.
