WATCH The Viral Video Of A Bajau Girl Saving A Sinking Boat With Her Feet
The video of a Bajau Laut girl in Sabah saving a sinking boat using amazing balance and strength has stunned the world.
By Mei Mei Chu — 09 Jun 2014, 01:25 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
A video of a young Sabahan from Pulau Mabul saving a boat from sinking is making international headlines
In the video, a wooden canoe was quickly sinking as water gushed into the small boat. A women and three young children, presumably tourists, were seen trying to stay afloat in the water.
Rescue mission: The youngster from Mabul Island - a fishing village off the coast of Malaysia - spots the submersed wooden boat and clings to a jetty as she secures each side of it underwater with her feet
Image via dailymail.co.ukHolding on to the side of the jetty, the quick-thinking girl quickly positions herself onto the submerging boat with her feet
The quick-thinking girl quickly pull the submersed wooden canoe close to the jetty using her feet as her hands cling onto the jetty
Image via SAYSWith amazing balance and strength, she starts tipping the canoe side-to-side so the water flows out of the boat
With amazing balance and strength, she starts tipping the canoe side-to-side to splash the water out of the canoe.
Image via SAYSWithin seconds, the boat was emptied of water and started to float again. She even helped the children climb into the canoe when it was safe again.
The girl even helped the children climb into the canoe when it was safe again.
Image via dailymail.co.ukUploaded on 31 March 2014, the video has already garnered more than 1,300,000 views
'That girl is awesome!' one viewer exclaimed. Another humorously added: 'Well, where was she when the Titanic went down?'
dailymail.co.ukThe video identifies the young girl as Bajau Laut or a Sea Gypsy
This historical community is made of Sabah’s ethnic group originated from the Philippines and Indonesia who for years had lived a seaborne lifestyle, making home of small wooden sailing vessels such as perahu. Though known as the Sea Gypsies, the correct term of their community is ‘Bajau Laut’. Their origin is unclear as for most of their history the Bajau was a nomadic, seafaring people, living in seclusion, surviving by trading and fishing.
This boat dwelling community see themselves as non-aggressive people who live in peace, close to the sea shore by erecting houses on stilts and travel in lepa-lepa, a handmade boats many also live in. Basically, their life revolves around the sea. Many of them work as fishermen, their main source of protein is the fish, they make boats and are excellent divers (some say they can even breathe under water for up to five minutes!), which explains their ‘King of the Sea’ title.
For many years these people have lived in the ocean on their make-shift house boats. Probably only in recent years that they have made settlements into the coastal area, with their houses built on stilts. The ocean is still their main source of living - fishing, collecting clams and mussels, and even pearl farming in the remote islands of Bodgaya and Boheydulang.
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