Enama Boat tragedy: risks and safety in the vicennium since

The oceans are unpredictably temperamental. One minute, it's a calm, smooth blanket under your steady vessel, and the other, it could rise up in waves and be the cause of major injuries and untimely death.

This is why safety measures are key. This is why, even when the sea looks calm, travelers on the oceans must always be mindful to take precautionary actions. Your lives must not be left to chance.

The Enama Boat tragedy

Twenty years ago, on March 17, 2004, after winning the finals in a zonal football competition, 124 persons boarded the Enama Boat to travel from Gaafu Dhaalu Thinadhoo to Gaafu Alif Villin'gili.

This was an oft-travelled route, approximately 54 kilometers, and with so many spectators having travelled to watch the match, the boat was filled much beyond capacity on its return trip, including men, women, and children. As the weather was relatively mild, and the distance short, crew on the boat decided to allow a higher number of people than advisable to board the vessel that day.

It was travelling at nine and a half nautical miles per hour to Thinadhoo, passengers still in high spirits after their team's win, when, at about 20:30 hrs, the boat was capsized after hitting a wave.

Owner of Enama Boat, Mohamed Zuhair, who also was aboard the vessel on that fateful day, speaking to Mihaaru News, expressed disbelief at this turn of events. He maintains that the wave that overturned the boat was relatively small, making it unclear how it led to such serious events.

"It honestly wasn't the kind of wave which could cause such a big incident as this. Enama is a boat that has sailed large seas even in rough conditions, over much larger waves," he said.

Zuhair describes the moments that followed as the scariest of his life.

Over 100 people, fighting to survive, in pitch black darkness, within the confines of the cabins of the capsized boat. He spoke of hearing screams and wailed prayers. Of being aware of every individual struggling to save their loved ones and themselves.

A sole victim remained unable to exit the cabins of the boat before it sank, losing his life within its confines. Some escaped the boat, only to end up trying to stay afloat in the deep seas. Others held on to the capsized boat until they realized it was sinking into the depths of the ocean.

Twenty two people died in this tragic accident. Two people were lost without a trace.

Some died as they were being transferred from the site of the wreckage back to their island. Some died while receiving treatment at the island's hospital. The youngest victim, just a year old, died while receiving treatment abroad in Sri Lanka.

Today, twenty years have passed since this tragic accident. The question is, is Maldives better prepared for such tragedies? Is Maldives taking better precautions to avoid such tragedies?

Currently, the Maldives has laws and regulations that strictly stipulate safety measures obligatory for all vessels to observe. What still needs further strengthening is the responsibility taken by individual vessels and their crews, as well as passengers, to abide by these laws, together with more robust monitoring from the authorities.

Saddam, lighting the way for rescuers

Air Traffic Controller Saddam Ahmed Saeed, himself from Thinadhoo, was on duty at the Kaadehdhoo Airport at the time of this tragedy.

He answered a call, to be informed that MNDF Coast Guard was sending divers from Male' on a Dornier flight.

The trouble with this was, it was already night time and the runway lights at Kaadehdhoo Airport were out of commission following a lighting strike earlier in the year.

Captain Ibrahim Rasheed was flying this emergency flight, and instructed Saddam to ensure the runway was lit up sufficiently by the time they arrived as delaying the flight was not a tenable option under the circumstances.

Reaching out to technicians proved futile, as Saddam had his fears confirmed that it was asking the impossible to have the runway lights fixed in an hour.

Saddam did not give up though. He had a crazy thought. "What if... what if we lit up the four corners of the runway with tube lights (street lights used at the time)?" Was this possible? Would this be sufficient?

Struggling with short wiring and other technical difficulties, Saddam led the technician and worked to get this done. He then instructed all other lights on the island to be switched off. With the entire island in darkness besides the four tube lights, Saddam used the light signal at the top of Air Traffic Control Tower to guide the aircraft.

"This is more than enough, thank you so much, we are landing."

These words from the Captain brought tears to Saddam's eyes as he praised Allah and offered thanks. Upon landing, the Captain asked Saddam how he had come up with the idea, to which he replied,

"I really don't know".

Saddam lost relatives in this tragedy. He remained on duty in the days following the incident, unable to leave his crucial role in the landing of search and rescue flights that followed to even take time out to attend the funerals of those deceased.

Speaking to The Edition today, Saddam said that twenty years on, technology now ensures we are better placed to handle a crisis such as this.

"We have internet connectivity, we can instantly get expert advice. We have better resources and systems in place. Even the Coast Guard is stationed across the country, making for better response times," Saddam said.

"We have made huge stride forwards since that day to ensure safety, but, compared to other countries, there is still a long way for us to go."

Profit over lives

One thing that shocked the nation even more within this tragedy was the refusal of a local fishing vessel to help those in distress in this tragedy.

The wave Enama Boat had capsized in had been raised in the wake of Arutha Boat of Gaafu Alif Dhevvadhoo, as it travelled close to Enama Boat on its way past. Although it had travelled about 15 minutes away before it realized that Enama Boat was in trouble, Arutha immediately turned around and came back to help.

They trasferred the most critically injured to Thinadhoo for immediate medical attention.

They asked another boat that had arrived at the location, Miyaren Boat from Dhaandhoo, to stay at the site and help the distressed.

However, the crew on Miyaren Boat refused to help. They wouldn't let any of the drowning victims even board their vessel. They left the site even as children, women and men were pleading with them to help them save their lives.

Captain of Arutha Boat told Haveeru News at the time that, "We could not believe that Miyaren Boat would leave the site at that time. They said that they had about 12 tonnes of fish they had caught, so they could not wait. We even offered to pay them for the fish".

Despite these pleas, Miyaren Boat made the decision to leave the site without extending any sort of help, resulting in the death of persons who may otherwise have had a chance of being saved.

Insufficient medical services and access at the time

When the boat capsized, there was only one person aboard who had any knowledge of first aid treatments.

"He was only able to save his child and wife. He had no time to save others," Zuhair said.

"Most people died after they were rescued from sea. Some after they were even taken to hospital. When so many people were in the sea after the boat capsized, and were struggling to get out from inside the boat, and had to stay in the water for so long, imagine how much salt water they must have taken in. If they had been taken out of the sea and on to a boat and given first aid, this many people would not have died," Zuhair said.

"The other thing is, it took too much time to transfer people to hospital. The boat that went first, to transport those most critical, for emergency treatment...this boat ran aground a reef. Later a speedboat was sent from Thinadhoo to pick them up and take them to hospital. When we are talking about an incident like this, that is a lot of time lost."