A 56-year-old fisherman from Manori village, who had been missing since Monday, was found safe on Wednesday against all hope.
The fisherman, Peter Gariba, had stepped out of his house around 11 p.m. on Monday to secure his boat at the Manori jetty. When he did not return till Tuesday morning, his wife raised an alarm in the village.
“Mr. Gariba’s wife went to the jetty around 5:30 am and started searching for him. After she couldn’t find him or his boat at the jetty, she informed his brothers who had accompanied him on Monday night. They told her that they returned home after securing their own boats and that they had simply assumed he had gone home as well,” Mr. Gariba’s sister, Madlyan Manaji, said.
His family then registered a missing persons report with the Gorai police, who alerted the Coast Guard and coastal police and a search was launched for him.
On Wednesday morning, when his family and friends had given up all hope of finding him, Mr. Gariba sailed up to the Madh jetty in his boat and made his way home. He later told his family that his boat got carried away in the choppy water on Monday night while he was trying to secure it.
“It was raining heavily and the boat overturned. He managed to turn it over once again and got inside, but had lost his oars by then and was too tired,” Mr. Gariba’s sister, Madlyan Manaji, said.
Thomas Goraikar, a resident said that by Tuesday evening the villagers were almost convinced that Mr Gariba had drowned. “Miraculously, in spite of being in the sea for over 24 hours he survived. Due to operating the oars for hours together, he had severe muscle pain and couldn’t walk due to fatigue. But the doctors said that he was fine otherwise and there was no need to worry,” he said.
