2 Emiratis swam for 6 hours in dark, spoke of kids to keep selves 'alive'

Two brave Emirati men swam for about six hours in the cold waters in the dark after their boat sank several miles off shore, before they were rescued by the maritime team of Dubai Police.

The duo was pulled to safety, but one of them is critical, reported Emarat Al Youm.

Recalling the experience, Khalid Al Suwaidi said it was difficult to swim as they had to battle high tides, darkness and biting cold.

Suwaidi said, his friend Mohammed Ahmed ‘almost died’ as his body temperatures dipped and was fatigued. “We promised each other that we will either live or die together. When my friend almost collapsed with his body temperature dipping below 28 degrees, I kept his spirits up by talking of his children.”

Suwaidi, who has a diving licence, recalled how difficult it was getting by the hour to swim upstream in the reverse high tides and cold. But they battled all odds and kept swimming when they saw The World Islands from a distance at about midnight.

Several boats did pass by them, but unfortunately none stopped, he alleged. In fact, they feared hitting one of the boats in the darkness, he added.

“We were almost about to surrender, when we saw signs of hope. We began waving out and some beach-goers spotted us and alerted the Maritime rescue team.”

Suwaidi and Ahmed had set out on a cruise for fishing at about 4pm on Tuesday and two hours into the waters their boat sank. They sent out distress signals and began to swim to shore from 6.30pm, he said.

Al Suwaidi is also married and has sons. Both of them were taken to hospital, however, Ahmed is critical, the report added.

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