First Boat Ride Ends In Tragedy - Victim

By Ainul Farhana Cik Lid SUNGAI BULOH (Selangor) , July 20 (Bernama) -- Nageshwari Oorvijayan, 22, one of the seven who survived the boat mishap on Thursday in Tanjung Karang, never expected her first boat ride will end in tragedy. She was aware from the outset that the boat was unstable and the tidal waves were too strong, but being a first timer on a boat with nine other family members and relatives, she left it to the boatman to manage the boat. "We did not think such catastrophe will occur. We were just chatting and joking," said Nageshwari who had gone with the others to scatter ashes of a dead relative and perform a religious ceremony out at sea. She said on the way they had asked the skipper of the boat to stop because of the strong waves and some of us got worried that something bad might happen. However, the boatman and his three aides suggested we proceed to the centre of the sea to conduct the prayers at a pole jutting out of the sea, she said. "We just followed what they said ... we did not know what to do as this is the first time we went there," she told reporters when met at the residence of her uncle M. Kunasegaran who drowned in the incident. Recounting her experience, Nageshwari said the distance from the pier to the scene of the religious ceremony was only about half an hour ride and the incident occurred on their way back. "On the way back, I asked my sister to snap pictures of me washing my face with a smile looking at the camera ... all of a sudden the water started to enter the boat ... the boat split in two. We began to sink. "We all screamed for help. I asked my cousin brother to save my mother, but when the other fishing boats arrived, I did not seen my cousin, he was gone," she said, adding that her mother A. Muniamah, 49, also drowned in the incident. Nageshwari who was not wearing a life jacket held on to a white float and stayed afloat for over an hour before being rescued by another fishing boat. According to Nageshwari her cousin Jeya Sankari, 27, who drowned in the incident, was supposed to go to Johor Baharu to meet her fiancée on Monday as she was supposed to get married next year. The seven who drowned are A. Parianathan, 30, from Taman Aman Sekinchan, Selangor, A. Muniamah, 49; K. Logaraj, 29; M. Gnaswdree, 59; M. Kunasegaran, 57, G. Jeya Sankari, 27 and Ravi Shankar, 25, all from Sungai Buloh, Selangor. Apart from Nageshwari, others who were saved were P. Alumalai, M. Sugamaran, N. Sanmugan, C. Sabtayan, C. Sundraja and S. Partiven. -- BERNAMA