Muslim Murad lands in Iran with drifting boat

The Baloch Hal News

QUETTA: Muslim Murad, captain of small fishing vessel which is drifted away in the cyclone Phet close to the Gulf of Oman, had finally landed in Iran along with fellow crew members.

Engine of his fishing vessel failed during the cyclone and it was left at the mercy of stormy and cyclonic winds during which he communicated with all his relatives in Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Iran, Quetta, Karachi, Gwadar and his hometown Jiwani.

While using his cell phone he kept every one informed about his condition and also the drifting vessel in the open seas with the storm winds.

Almost all major TV channels pleaded his case asking the concerned officials of Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Coast Guards, and Balochistan Disaster Management Authority and others rescuing the drifting Pakistani fishing vessel along with five Pakistani crew.

In the course of communication with the journalists, he consumed the balance of his cell phone. A local journalist Zafar Baloch in Quetta went to his help recharging the phone with money so that he should continue to communicate with all concerned, including journalists and relatives.

When the cyclone ‘phet’ lashed somewhere close to Gwadar on Saturday, his fishing boat was spotted close to Jiwani, his hometown.  All his relatives virtually invaded the office of the  law enforcing agency forcing them to wear their uniform and take to high sea and rescue Muslim Murad and his four other fellow fishermen.

They also spotted an Iranian rescue vessel patrolling the Iranian territorial waters. A request was made to the Iranian patrol boat that rescued the Muslim Murad, his four other crew and the drifting fishing boat on the Iranian coast close to the Pakistani waters.

His first cousin Ghaffar Hoath confirmed that Muslim Murad and his fellow crew were rescued and safe in Iranian custody along with his boat.

It is recalled that Muslim Murad and his four other crew went to the high seas for routine fishing for a month. While returning, engine of the fishing vessel failed and it started drifting away and cyclone phet overtook them pushed them close to the coast line instead of the high seas, Ghaffar Hoath told this scribe.