Nightmare on Christmas Eve

Close to 300 Indians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans drowned in the shipwreck off the Malta coast on Christmas eve.

A first hand account of the tragedy, which occurred between Malta and the Sicily Channel, has come from Gurdev Singh, a resident of Gakhal village near Jalandhar. One of the 22 survivors of the disaster, Singh says he spent several weeks in 'inhuman conditions' in the holds of cargo ships on less than a chappati a day or a fistful of rice.

''We were kicked around and humilated whenever we sought more food or medicines for those who fell sick,'' he said. Singh left home with seven other young men on October 6.

In his early twenties, Singh claimed that about a hundred victims died during the first collision when the human cargo was being ferried from the ship to the ferry. But for a favourable tide which brought the ferry parallel to the ship, there would have been more casualties, he added.

There were about 475 people on board the ship when a ferry arrived to transport them to the Greek coast. When about 320 men, including Singh, were transferred to the ferry, the captain of the vessel asked a junior officer to take the ferry near the ship to ascertain whether some more people could be taken on board.

Even though the junior officer said the ferry could not take any more people, the ferry moved closer to the ship. It was then that it collided with the ship. Water start pouring into the damaged ferry, Singh recalled.

Several people tried unsuccessfully to plug the holes with their clothes. An SOS was transmitted to the ship and ''following some crackle on the wireless'' the ferry moved towards the ship once again. It was at this point that the ferry went out of control, hit the ship and started sinking, Singh said.

He said he was among those who somehow managed to get onto the ship which had about 155 people aboard. Unmindful of the tragedy, the ship then sailed towards Greece. All the people on board were later transferred to the Greek coast in four instalments.

Many of those who survived the disaster, Singh believes, have gone underground in Greece.

Twentytwo of them, he said, huddled into an orange orchard close to the seashore with some of the ship's crew members keeping a watch on them. He said they were assured of a berth on a container ship to Italy, their destination, for which they had paid up to Rs 250,000 each.

Dispirited, the survivors decided against continuing their journey, but did not let the ship's crew members know of it. Finding an opportunity to escape on December 30, they reported to the Greek police, who took them into custody.

Gurdev Singh's Greek odyssey began when his group of eight was recruited by a pair of local touts.He said they were flown to Oman on October 10. The next day they were flown to Turkey. Their numbers swelled to 20 in Turkey and from there they left for Odana seaport in Turkey by bus. They left the port on October 12 in a cargo ship. Their numbers had increased to about 120.

He said they were put into the hold of the ship and taken to Syria where they reached on November 5. About 60 Punjabis and 20 Pakistanis joined them in Syria where their numbers swelled to about 200. The ship roamed the high seas till December 3 when another cargo ship drew alongside and gave them a bag each of flour and rice.

By then, their daily food intake had been reduced to one-fourth of a chapati, he said. They fell short of food and fuel while wandering the seas for another fortnight. Several of them took ill but there was no medicine on board.

Thereafter, they were transferred to a small ship from Cyprus in which they were packed like sardines. All the cabins and corridors were choked with people. On December 13 they were transferred to yet another ship from Cyprus which already had about 195 people on board. Conditions on this ship were slightly better and their daily diet was increased to half a chappati, he added.

The ship roamed the seas again for 12 days where the tragedy occurred the day before Christmas.