Four decades later, mystery shrouds dhow trip to Saudi

Thiroorangadi: Forty years ago, domestic hardships and poverty forced about 50 people to take a hazardous trip to Saudi Arabia, hoping to make a fortune.

They set forth on a dhow with high hopes of a good life that they envisioned for themselves and for their dear and near ones.

Four decades later, no one knows where they are. And whether they are even alive.

The journey that started from a beach in Mumbai has remained shrouded in mystery. No one has been able to piece together what happened during that trip.

Whereabouts of the missing remain obscure, but speculations galore.

The memories of those missing are alive in the minds of the dear and near ones they left behind.

The families of the missing still hope for any information that they can hold on to, expecting their loved ones to return some day.

Their motherland never made an effort to find them and all the stories about them remain inconclusive.

The dhow carrying them set sail for Saudi Arabia in July, 1977. Forty six of the 50 were from places such as Kundoor, Muniyoor and Kodakkallu -- all of them residing within 10 kilometres of each other.

That was the time when Saudi Arabia was just embracing modernity and those ready to toil in the sand dunes could reap rich rewards. Most of those seeking a livelihood used to travel to that country in dhows, although it was illegal. Many of the wealthy that we know today had first traveled to Saudi on dhows.

They set sail in a launch steered by experienced seafarer, Elayanchery Ahammed Kutty. He was accompanied by two of his brothers and their families.

A subplot to the journey

The journey started from Vasai Beach in Mumbai and the dhow was headed to UAE’s Khorfakkan Beach. Some say that the ill-fated boat sank en route. Another theory is that the sailors were captured by Pakistani forces. News of the probable mishap could not have come to light immediately due to lack of advanced communication systems.

The journey also has sub plot to it.

Chandu, who escaped just because he could not make it on time, lives with the hope that his friends who set sail on that fateful day are still alive.

The journey was postponed many times. Even though the travelers were ready, the trip had to be canceled at the last moment on many occasions.Those who had to board the dhow had to swim to it from the beach.

Chandu was scheduled to board the dhow as the last man and many who had gone ahead of him had entrusted him with packets they could not carry while swimming to the dhow.

Half way to the dhow, Chandu realized that he would not be able to carry all the packets and so swam back to keep them at the shore.

By the time, he swam back, the dhow had set sail and Chandu missed the boat. According to him, there were at least 60 people in the boat.

Lost in the rough seas

Many believe that the dhow would have lost its bearings in the rough seas and then reached the shores of some foreign nation.

A Keralite who worked in an agency that supplies water to jails in Pakistan met a native of his state in a Pakistani jail. It seems, the prisoner said that he was in the boat and that many prisoners from Kerala were in the jail.

Relatives in Kerala immediately formed a group to pursue the story and take up the matter with concerned authorities. After petitions were presented to ministers and MPs, they were told that since the travel was illegal, nothing much could be done.

A resident of Munniyoor, who was in a dhow that left for Dubai just before the ill-fated boat set sail, had another story to tell. While on a dhow near the shores of Iran, another dhow was involved in an accident. Hearing cries, he requested his captain to help those who could have been caught in the accident. His captain asked him to pray and went on without stopping to help. This could have been the ill-fated dhow.

Most of those who were involved in the accident made a living in Mumbai selling tea or tender coconuts. Others had come to set sail with help from friends and relatives.

They were mostly in the 18-50 age group and many had set sail without informing their families. Some sent letters just before they started, but those letters would have reached home perhaps after the mishap happened.

Relatives only had the letter and information provided by friends to piece together what could have happened to them.

All doors they knocked had the same answer: since the travel was illegal, nothing much could be done.

And since the trip was not officially recorded, no one knows how many people were present in the boat.

While it was so far believed there were 46 people on the dhow, a recent meeting of families of those missing indicated that more people from Edappal and Valanchery could have been part of the ill-fated group.

Since the Mumbai Police had arrested a few before they set sail, the general belief is that there were 46 in the group. However, more people could have been part of it.