Mother's memory kept Mobarak alive

MV Hope second officer Mohammad Mobarak Hossain, 24, who fought for nearly 42 hours for survival at the Andaman Sea where his ship tilted on July 4, narrates his ordeal to The Daily Star at his residence in Chittagong city on Friday. Sitting on his left is his mother. Photo: Star

During his near 42-hour ordeal at sea, the second officer of the Bangladeshi cargo vessel MV Hope, which tilted in the Andaman Sea, had at one point given up hope that he would make it out alive.
With rescue vessels repeatedly failing to pick him up and then leaving him, he was ready to let go. But the thought of his mother kept alight a glimmer of hope and had given him the strength to stay afloat.
Reaching his residence in Chittagong city's Agrabad Choumuhani area on Friday evening, Mohammad Mobarak Hossain, 24, narrated to The Daily Star his fight for survival near the coast of Phuket in Thailand.
The 17 crewmen had jumped into the sea around 1:30am on July 4 on receiving orders from the captain to abandon ship. Of them, 12 were able to swim to a life raft of the ship.
Captain Rajib Chandra Karmaker's outreached hand was only a few feet away on the raft but the strong current prevented Mobarak from grabbing a hold of it and pushed him away from the life raft.
Luckily all of the 17 crewmen were wearing lifejackets. “We were hopeful that we would be rescued when we jumped as the merchant ship MV Bux Moon was half a mile from where we were,” said Mobarak.
But instead of keeping still just as the captain had asked when he radioed for help before abandoning ship, the rescue ship came speedily at him.
Despite having a searchlight fixed on him, MV Bux Moon hit Mobarak thrice, causing injuries to his head, right hand and legs. All this time, Mobarak was desperately trying to avoid the ship's propellers.
“I was about to lose consciousness when I saw the ship going away. After around one and a half hours, I found deck cadet Raek Fairooz floating beside me. We then clung on to each other,” he said.
When the sun came up, Mobarak saw a rescue helicopter and a ship in the distance. However, his cries and frantic hand movements failed to draw their attention.
Meanwhile, Mobarak was trying hard to keep his eyes open. He was awake on duty for the last two days and the trauma was putting a heavy strain on his energy. “I fell asleep on the afternoon of July 4 but Fairooz held on to me,” he said.
He awoke the next morning. His body throbbed with pain from the impacts with MV Bux Moon and he felt desperate, ready to cast off his lifejacket and end the suffering.
Luck was yet to look upon Mobarak as a merchant vessel, MV Bux Lagoon, came that afternoon and was able to pick up Fairooz. But Mobarak could not hold on to the ropes they were throwing from the ship.
When all hope seemed to have been lost, rescue came in the form of a Thai navy ship around 7:00pm.
Mobarak was rushed off to a hospital at Phuket in Thailand and shifted to another on July 8. He got release on July 23.
Nine of the 17 crewmen were rescued alive while bodies of another two were found floating at sea. The remaining six, including the captain, are still missing. MV Hope has been towed to the Malaysian coast.
Though the ordeal left a deep scar on Mobarak, he is happy to be alive and back home.