Drifting 28 days at sea, Andaman man washes ashore in Odisha
BHUBANESWAR: The sleepy coastal village of Khirisahi in Odisha was suddenly astir on Friday when a battered boat washed ashore with a man who could barely walk. Amrit Kujur, 49, of Shaheed Dweep in the Andaman and Nicobar Island had been missing at sea for 28 days during which he lost a friend and weathered two storms in the Bay of Bengal.
Kujur told Odisha Police that he had started from the Andaman Islands, approximately 750 nautical miles or 1300 km from the Odisha coast, on September 28 with his friend Divyaranjan to sell provisions and potable water to people on other ships in the Andaman Sea.
“Kujur and Divyaranjan would sell groceries and potable water to other ships on the sea. They were planning to sell their wares worth ₹5 lakh when they ran into a storm. The boat then drifted along till it emptied its fuel. The mast of the ship was also badly damaged and its wireless communication failed. Fearing capsize, Kujur and his boatmate threw their wares into the sea to reduce the weight on the boat,” said Abhimanyu Nayak, inspector of Krushnaprasad police station in Puri district.
Though the two tried hard to seek help and sent out signals to many passing cargo ships along the way, he said nobody took notice. Finally, a ship of the Myanmar Navy came to their aid. The Burmese crew helped Kujur and Divyaranjan by giving them 260 litres of diesel and a new compass to guide them home.
But the duo ran out of luck