“I was smaller than bacteria from where they were”: Diving instructor survived four days adrift

He was sitting in a speedboat, waiting for the boat’s captain to return with petrol to refuel. All of a sudden, a bout of strong wind sent the boat out to sea.

Wave after wave of seawater crashed into the little boat and it started to sink. With no time to lose, John Low grabbed his backpack that contained his Singapore passport and identity card, and a life buoy. That was the start of his four-day ordeal being stranded in the waters of the South China Sea.

“I actually saw a flash of red light in the sky the moment I entered the water,” the 61-year-old diving instructor told City News.

“There were like 20 lights in the clouds following me all the way for three nights. When I saw that, I knew that God was with me. I didn’t have any fear or feel any pain for four days.”

FACING DEATH

It all started on May 4 last year when Low was traveling from Mersing to Tioman Island in Malaysia. He boarded the boat at around 5pm but the boat ran out of fuel halfway through the journey. He remained in the boat while the captain went back to shore to get petrol.

Low estimated that he was only three to four kilometres from shore, but the current was relentless. “Every time I tried to swim towards the land, I was pushed back. I would try for four to five hours, battling towards land, but I found myself in the same spot.”

“I was just 10 hours away (from dying).”

After two days, Low finally let go of his backpack. He also had to remove all his clothing because it was rubbing against his skin. When he began to lose sight of land on the fourth day, he began to panic.

“I wasn’t sure if I could last the fifth day. According to records, survivors at sea without water and food can last an average of 90 hours. I was just 10 hours away (from dying). I was facing death.”

MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE 

At around 4.30pm on May 7, a 4,000-tonne dredger, Diogo Cao, passed him by. Its captain spotted him and instructed his crew members to fish him out of the sea. By that time, Low was 128km away from the shores of Singapore.

Captain Cornelis Plugge contacted the authorities and Singapore’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre responded. The Republic of Singapore Air Force’s search-and-rescue team arrived at the scene and, within 30 minutes, had hoisted Low onto the helicopter and brought him to the hospital.

Low recovering in the hospital, several days after he was rescued. He was warded in the Intensive Care Unit for two weeks.

Barely conscious and suffering from hypothermia, Low had lost most of the skin from his arms due to extreme exposure. He ended up spending six weeks in the hospital, two of which were in intensive care.

“I [later] wrote to the captain and first officer who found me, thanking them for having an eagle eye. They were on board a ship that was 10 storeys high, I was five kilometres away — smaller than bacteria from where they were.

“The ship had already passed me, but it was shaken by the wave. The captain told me he didn’t know where the wave came from – the wave managed to shake a 4,000-tonne ship. At that moment he turned around and saw me,” Low recounted.

He had been in such bad shape that the captain was not even sure it was a person he was looking at.

He had been in such bad shape that the captain was not even sure it was a person he was looking at – until Low raised his arm.

“Also that morning, the crew had been doing ‘man overboard’ rescue drills. Somehow, the captain decided not to bring the lifeboat back into the ship. Normally, they would bring it in before the ship docks but the captain just decided not to. He didn’t even know why he did that.

“He also told me that the ship was supposed to move at a speed of 18 to 22 knots. It had come from China and was supposed to dock at Batam. But there was no place to dock so the ship had slowed down to eight knots.

“It was like God had prepared everything for my rescue.”

“GOD WAS WITH ME”

Calling himself a “crisis-centred Christian”, Low was surprised that God was right there with him in the ocean.

“Every time I looked up at the lights, I knew that God was there for me. He gave me the strength to fight. Everyone – my family, the air force, the crew on the ship – said that they were impressed by my physical and mental strength.

“But frankly, I did nothing. All these things were arranged by God, and I realised that He wants me to speak of His goodness,” he said.

Low with some of the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) search-and-rescue team who responded to the emergency call by the ship’s captain who spotted him.

Since the incident, Low has handed his diving shop in Tioman over to his sons. He hopes to spend more time with them after they take over the running of the shop.

“With the extra time in my life, I need to tell others about God’s goodness. I’ve not completed my work, especially with my sons whom I need to nurture,” said the survivor, who saw God’s love and protection through the ordeal.

“Now I need to do the same for my sons; I might need to discipline them when they make mistakes, but I also need to nurture them.”

This story was first published on City News, a ministry of City Harvest Church, and has been republished with permission.