After five days of being lost at sea two fishermen were rescued and are back home.
Boat captain Anthony Look Tow, 46, of Morvant, thanked God for life after reuniting with his family.
Look Tow, along with fellow fisherman Danny Godden, were rescued last Thursday by the crew of a vessel enroute to Chaguaramas from Jamaica.
He recounted his experience yesterday at Guardian Media Ltd, Port-of-Spain.
Minutes after the rescue, Look Tow said he saw the fishing vessel, Assassin, disappear under the ocean. The boat was valued at over $.5 million and had the capacity to stay for as long as a week off-shore.
Look Tow, who has been a fishermen for about 20 years and who have captained several boats before, said at about 10 pm on June 24 he and Godden, left the docks at Scarborough, Tobago, for Chaguaramas. He had gone to Tobago to sell fish.
He said all went well until June 28 when the boat broke down.
He added: “We anchored with our two anchors and attempted to fix the boat. However, both anchors cut loose because of strong currents. We could not fix the boat and attempted to call the Tobago Coast Guard but we were not able to transmit.
“We then tried for the Trinidad Coast Guard but nothing. We were lost and the boat drifted northwest at a speed of 3.5 knots.”
Look Tow said while he was not sure if they had drifted into Venezuelan waters knew they were no longer in T&T waters.
“This by itself was very frightening. I kept looking at the distance on our equipment. We had already drifted to 350 miles over the few days of being lost at sea.We finally made contact with a vessel enroute to Trinidad and it came to our rescue. All I know is that at the time of the rescue we had drifted about 312 miles from Trinidad's First Bocas,” Look Tow said.
Describing his experience, he said: “We were not seeing land and that by itself was very traumatic. Luckily we did not run out of food and water but I kept hoping and praying that we would be found.
The boat was taking in water too so it was difficult for us to keep awake and keep bailing out the water. We thought this was it.”
Look Tow's wife, Romecia, expressed dissatisfaction in the way the T&T authorities handled the situation.
“I thought they could have done more. I had to be the one to inform the Venezuelan Embassy because they didn't know anything.
“I was the one also to inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and they were shocked to hear of the situation but I am glad to have my husband back safe and sound.”