One lifeboat and a mobile: How 18 sailors survived Phailin's fury

In an incredible story of survival, 17 Chinese and one Myanmarese sailor managed to escape their sinking ship, get into a lifeboat and brave Cyclone Phailin for 36 hours before finally making it ashore near Balasore early on Monday. The sailors had set sail from Haldia port last week and were 40 nautical miles from the coast in the Bay of Bengal when they had to abandon their ship (MV Bingo) which was carrying 2,000 MT of iron ore, says an Indian Express report. All rescue efforts failed to trace the 18 men who were squeezed into one lifeboat. [caption id=“attachment_1172171” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The group managed to keep one mobile phone alive among them, with just enough battery so that they could call authorities in China who helped trace them to Bichitrapur island. “(After leaving ship) no one knew what the time was or where they were being blown away. At one point, they said, they were praying that they didn’t hit land because if they had hit any rocky edge at such speed, they would have died for sure,” DN Das, the officer in charge of the nearest police station was quoted as saying in the report. Miraculously, while all of them were suffered minor injuries, their lifeboat didn’t show any signs of major damage. The group was expected to leave for Haldia on Monday evening. Click here to read the full Indian Express report.