Abandoned at sea for three years

Long stretches at sea are part of life for a merchant seaman so when Indian marine engineer Vikash Mishra accepted a job on a cargo ship in the Gulf, he expected a lengthy period away from his young family. But a few months became years after Vikash's employer ran out of money. They abandoned the broken-down ship, called the Tamim Aldar, 20 miles off the coast of Dubai. Vikash and his crewmates were trapped on the leaky vessel without much in the way of food, fuel or electricity, so they had to learn to survive. When all hope seemed lost, they would make a perilous attempt to reach land. Vikash Mishra and Reverend Andy Bowerman of the Mission to Seafarers speak to Outlook's Kevin Ponniah.

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Picture: Vikash Mishra Credit: Vikash Mishra