New Delhi – Three Burmese fishermen are still stranded five and-a-half months after they made it to the eastern coast of India 's Orissa state, after drifting at sea for three months.
Zaw Oo, Zaw Lwin and Ko Lynn – drifted to the coast near Gopalpur town in Orissa on February 5, after their wooden raft was carried away following a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal . They have appealed for emergency help to return home to be reunited with their families.
"Please help us! We need help to return to our homeland," said Zaw Oo, one of the three fishermen, who survived nearly two months without food on sea.
Zaw Oo said they have been under the care of a generous Indian truck driver for more than five months, but still have not got any assistance from the Burmese embassy in New Delhi to help them return home.
Purmachandra, an Indian truck driver, who took in the three fishermen, said though he had informed the Burmese embassy in New Delhi for help, so far there has been no response from the embassy.
On March 7, Purmachandra said he sent photographs and names of the three fishermen along with an application to the Burmese embassy in New Delhi .
"I have been keeping these men in my house and there is no help from anyone including the Indian government and Burmese embassy. It is impossible for me to keep them any longer," Purmachandra, a father of six children with low income, told Mizzima.
The three Burmese fishermen reportedly belong to Pyapon town in Burma 's Irrawaddy division, which was among the worst hit by Cyclone Nargis in May.
Zaw Oo said he left his four children after his wife died before he left Burma but he is not sure whether they are still alive after the cyclone.
"I want to go back home, I am worried abut my children," said Zaw Oo, adding that the children are left with no one to support them.
Zaw Lwin is also married and has three children while Ko Lynn is single.
The three fishermen went on a fishing trip on a bamboo raft on November 11, 2007. But they were soon caught in a cyclone and started drifting on the Bay of Bengal .
"We were adrift on sea for three months. We mainly depended on dry fish and turtles for food but we remained without food for nearly two months after all our dry fish stocks ran out," Zaw Oo said.
After months of drifting at sea they were finally rescued by Indian fishermen and arrived at the east coast of Gopalpur in Orissa state in early February.
The three were taken into police custody, but a generous Indian truck driver, Purmachandra, who speaks Burmese fluently, bailed them out.
Since then the Burmese fishermen have been living at his residence. Purmachandra said he could no longer keep them unless emergency help arrives from either the Burmese or India governments.
"I want to take them to New Delhi and talk to the Burmese embassy," Purmachandra told Mizzima.
The Burmese Embassy in New Delhi , however, could not be reached for comment.
