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ESCAPE
FROM VIETNAM Page 14 Saved
at last! On the morning of the ninth day, the excited cries of people on the boat woke me up from my deep slumber. The first word that I heard were "Land!". As if I just took a magic pill, I jumped up and ran up to the dock to take a look. It was no illusion, no hallucination. There it was, an green island just about a few miles from our boat. There were many tall trees on the island. I couldn't see any sign of people living on the island though. There were a lot of submerged rocks in the area. The captain guided the boat around the island to find a place where the boat could come in and land. By now, everyone who still had any energy had come on the dock, waiting nervously. It was still very dangerous. If the captain made a wrong move, the boat could hit a submerged rock and the boat would sink. We were a few good miles from the shore, and given the physical states we were in, there was very little chance that anyone could make it ashore alive. As our boat made its way to the other side of the island, we spotted two fishing boats. There were a few men just wearing shorts on the boat. The fishermen must have seen us too. One of the boat started to make its way to ward our boat while the other one went toward the island. As it neared our boat, one of the fishermen signaled toward our boat for someone to come on their boat. The captain, who surprisingly still had some strength left, jumped into the water and swam toward their boat. The fishermen pulled the captain up to their boat and I could see they were trying to communicate by sign language. It was not long before the captain swam back to our boat. The smile on his face told us everything we needed to know. We were saved at last! The fishermen were Malaysians. They told the captain (by sign language), that they would lead us to the island. After nine days wandering aimlessly at sea, somehow we ended up in the place we wanted to be. And we couldn't find land a day sooner. Our food, water and fuel would not last us till the end of the day. We followed the fishermen's boat toward the shore. It was another half hour before we pulled in a small wooden pier. There were many natives on the beach looking at us as our boat came in. The fishermen on the other boat must have told the villagers of our presence. As we set foot on the beach, the villagers brought and gave us biscuits and plenty of water. I had never imagined that these people could be so nice. As I sipped the water, I looked at the sky and silently thank God for saving our lives. After I had eaten and drank, I went toward the sea and tried to wash myself. A villager laughed at me and gave me a mirror. As I look in the mirror, I couldn't recognize myself. My face, neck, head and body was blackened by nine straight days of exposure to the smoke from the exhaust pipe of the boat. It took me three days of washing to clean all the carbon deposits and grease from my body. Home Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
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