Five fishermen expressed their gratitude to God for their safety after their boat sank on Sunday, March 13.
According to CBN News, a 55-foot Trinidadian fishing vessel with five men on board, namely James Kirwan, (59); Kyle Dyer, (31); Azim Baksh, (35); Jerome Nicome, (63); and Keston Frederick, (36), went down off the South West Tobago coast just after midnight.
The report said that a distress signal was sent out, however, there was trouble and unclear signal for rescuers to send help.
The men jumped off the boat with their life jackets into the frigid waters. They then drifted and patiently waited for two hours in the middle of the sea before The Siem Spearfish, a Bahamian vessel, arrived to rescue them.
The report noted that the men said their rescue was a miracle. They thanked God for hearing their prayers as they experienced the traumatic moment.
"Thank God, all the honor and glory and praise. Anybody who hears me now, trust Christ. I telling you because He is the one that saved us. God allows us to drift into the vessel that saved us. Nobody noticed us out there." Nicome told Newsday.
One of the fishermen, Dyer, also stated that if it was not for God, they would not have been saved and alive because of the water that is rough and the increased wave intensity rate.
Per CBN News, the president of the Tobago Fisherfolk Association (ATFA), Curtis Douglas, reported that the Crystal Eye was able to activate emergency calls, however, the signal was very low which causes inaudible sound from the casualties, making it hard for the rescuers to discover their situation.
Douglas noted that it happened after midnight to 1 a.m., that their radio was not picking the signal up clearly, affecting their ability to get the exact information. He said that the fishing industry in Tobago needs satellite phones for efficient updating in some cases.
According to Douglas, the ATFA has been campaigning for two rescue boats in some cases as the incident happened.
"We've been clamoring for that for a long while, so that in situations where local or international boats in distress, once they are in waters, we will respond. So, in these cases, we would probably be one of the first responders to be able to treat with that." Douglas said.
In a Facebook post from The Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), the five men were reported safe and were taken to the Scarborough Port. None of the five men were required hospitalization except for Frederick who needed treatment for hyperthermia.
TEMA expressed its gratitude to the Bahamian team and other rescue facilities for the active response showed to the incident. In the comment section, people are also appreciative of the amazing and prompt job of the rescuers and thank God for the safety of the fishermen.
