Tioman Diver Rescued After Being Stranded At Sea For 4 Days Without Food And Water
His face was left completely sunburnt that it felt like "a thousand needles" were poking him underwater.
By Tamara Jayne — 13 Jun 2019, 01:29 PM
A 60-year-old man was left drifting in the middle of the ocean for four days and three nights after his boat capsized near Tioman Island
John Low, who is a Singaporean diving instructor, was on a leisure diving trip when the unfortunate incident took place on 4 May.
A strong wave had hit his boat and caused it to sink, giving Low barely enough time to grab his backpack and a ring buoy.
Left stranded without food or water, Low began to hallucinate by the third day
The Straits Times revealed that Low tried to swim back to shore on the first day. However, strong waves pushed him back.
By 10pm that night, he lost sight of the shore and could not see any boats around him.
On the second day, Low told himself that he had to persevere on and stay alive for his family despite feeling weak in his limbs.
To stay sane, he began to talk to inanimate objects like a lifebuoy and his wrist watch
In an interview with Lianhe Wanbao, Low said that he had called the objects "boy" and "brother".
He added that the skin under his arms eventually got stuck to the lifebuoy, which left him in unbearable pain.
To make matters worse, Low's face was completely charred from the sun that each time it touched the water, it felt "like a 1,000 needles" were poking him
"So it's either I face the pain in the sun or the pain in the water," he shared, Business Insider reported.
It took him two weeks to completely recover, including six days in intensive care.
Lianhe Wanbao revealed that he had also suffered from an infection in his lungs, kidney failure due to high salt water intake, and skin burns.
On Facebook, Low jokingly said that his face resembled "Bee Chèe Hianģ dried meat" or bak kwa.
Image via John Low/FacebookBy the fourth night, a passing ship finally spotted Low and rescued him
The ship immediately notified Singaporean authorities, who sent the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) to rescue Low on a helicopter.
A video posted by RSAF showed Low thanking the team for saving his life and shared the story a month after his 80-hour ordeal.
You can watch it below: