Captain of the beached ship “DenDen” Speaks

July 9th, 2007 · Comments - by John -

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DenDen launches liferafts after grounding ship off an indian beach

Hopefully you remember the DENDEN from our previous post, if not CLICK HERE to get up to speed. Today we found an interview with the vessel’s master; Capt Abraham Kwaw. Here are his words courtesy of daiji world:

“I had never came across such a terrible occurrence since 1966, the year which I entered this career,”

“In fact, we were fortunate to rescue from the tragic Gonu cyclone that hit the Middle East a few weeks ago. Unless we had followed a specific plan and changed our direction, we would have been one among the thousand victims,”

“We too were on a strategy when technical snags were traced in the ship on June 21, a day after we sailed off from the New Mangalore Port.

Hence, we conveyed our confidence to the Coast Guards and the Port authorities that we would manage to set right the faults and continue the voyage. But the unpredictable climate turned our plans turtle,” he recalled.

For Mr Mohammed Younis, the chief engineer of the vessel, it was the blessings of the almighty which saved at least 21 members in the ship. “I was hopeful of a gradual control in the bad weather, and was praying for God’s grace. The only hope we had was that the life jackets, which can make us sail on the sea for hours together,” he said.

However, it was our last resort to jump to the sea when the whole vessel capsized. I lost my last hope when a big tide churned me into its depth as soon as I jumped, but perhaps, by God’s grace I could come up again, he explained.

Read the full account HERE

Here are some of the pictures from THIS ARTICLE in Daili World:

Find all of Daiji World’s DENDEN stories HERE

About The Author

Captain John Konrad is co-founder of Unofficial Networks and Editor In Chief of this blog. He is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage and, since graduating from SUNY Maritime College, has sailed a variety of ships to ports around the world. He currently lives in Morro Bay, California with his wife and two children.
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