How Osiris, the 'God of afterlife', gave a new lease of life to navy commander Abhilash Tomy

Mumbai: In Egyptian mythology, Osiris is referred to as the God of life, death, the flooding of the Nile and the afterlife. Navy Commander Abhilash Tomy’s mid-ocean rescue by the French fishing vessel ‘Osiris’ proved just that, giving the sailor a new lease of life. Commander Tomy’s 32-feet long sailboat Thuriya first braved the wrath of the sea and gusty winds, leading to at least one toppling. The sailor may have been inside when the toppling happened, injuring his back, his mentor and race manager Commander (retd) Dilip Donde said. [caption id=“attachment_5260251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image of the French vessel ‘Osiris’ which was the first ship to reach naval officer Abhilash Tomy. Twitter/@SandeepUnnithan[/caption] “While the vessel stabilised after the toppling, the solo occupant was far from normal. The injuries made him immobile and request for evacuation through a satellite-based communication gadget,” he said. For the next three days, Tomy drifted in the boat in the vast Indian Ocean, sans any help. The only contact with the outside world was through sporadic text messages through satellite and a GPS transmitter which gave his location to a race control room in France. Organisers of the Golden Globe Race (GGR) contacted the Australian rescue authorities, who found out about Osiris’ presence in the vicinity. It reached Thuriya two days later and rescued him, in an act befitting the credentials of mythological figure. “Osiris” was once a fishing boat from Seychelles, an island country located to the east of Africa. The boat was seized by the French Navy in 2003 and was turned into a patrol boat for France.