PHUKET: Mohammad Mobarak Hossain was Second Officer of a ship called Hope when it ran into a storm and the order was given to abandon ship off Phuket.

As the ship sailed from Penang to Chittagong the vessel developed a severe list in heavy seas south of Phuket.

For the young man, it was the beginning of a 40 hour nightmare in the water. One year on, he relates how he managed to survive:

3rd July, 2013. I went on the bridge at 2300: every day I used to take over my watch one hour before due time, and that day also I did so. The Captain went below.

From the beginning of the passage the sea was rough. The ship was rolling and pitching simultaneously. But about 0015 I observed a sudden smoothing of the sea. The pitching stopped but the ship was still rolling. But this rolling was different.

The ship rolled to starboard about 2 to 5 degrees and came upright. But we didn't roll to port. That made me suspicious. I called the Master and told him about the ship's abnormal behavior.

While talking we felt another roll to starboard - bigger than before. He said, ''I am coming to the bridge.''

I started to alter the ship's course to eastward as wind and swell were from the west. In the meantime the Chief Officer also called the bridge, asking about the ship's list. I suggested he come to the bridge, too.

By the time the Master and Chief Officer arrived the rolling had reached about 15 degrees. The Master ordered the Chief Officer to prepare the lifeboats and all the other relevant safety equipment.

The Master and I remained on the bridge. We sent a distress alert by all available means.

The Captain asked the 2nd Engineer to attend the engine room: if necessary we would ring the telegraph for him to leave.

I collected all the GMDSS equipment, gathered it in a bag and sent it to the boat station. By this time the ship had listed to almost 35 degrees.

Everything was falling down from port side to starboard side. The bridge floor became slippery: it was raining. We couldn't walk properly.

Two ships acknowledged our distress signal. One was 12 miles ahead of us, another 4 miles on our port beam. We asked the second ship for assistance.

She followed us for about an hour, maintaining half mile distance, while we tried to reach the coast.

Suddenly there was a blackout on the ship. I became worried about the 2nd Engineer: he was in the engine room and it would be difficult to come up.

I went onto the bridge wing and shouted to the crew, ''Someone go down with a torch to bring out the 2nd Engineer.'' But he was already there.

The Master and I came down from the bridge. But when we arrived at the boat station we found that nothing had been prepared: there was panic.

So I didn't bother anybody and began getting the liferaft ready to be lowered, helped only by one of the deck cadets.

Once the liferaft was lowered, I thought we should all wait aboard until it was clear the ship would sink. I went back to the bridge to collect the relevant charts and other important items.

But while going up the stairs I could hear the sound of people jumping into the water. I had a look from the bridge wing and saw the Chief Officer jumping.

After taking the charts from the bridge I came down and found nobody onboard except me & the 2nd Engineer.

I saw that some of the crew couldn't catch the liferaft: they were floating away with the current. The Chief Officer was one of them.

The Captain boarded the liferaft safely. From there he was shouting, ''Jump! Jump! We are waiting for you. I am going to cut the painter line.''

Then I thought I should join the group. I suggested to the 2nd Engineer that he should jump. But he said to me to jump first.

I jumped from the starboard quarter, wearing lifejacket and immersion suit. I was swimming to join the liferaft but it was drifting away.

I could see the Captain very near to me and could hear him shout, ''Get hold of my hand, hold my hand!'' But I couldn't catch hold of it.

Someone from the raft threw a lifebuoy. I caught that but couldn't reach the liferaft. The current pushed me away.

The ship standing by observed that I couldn't board the liferaft. She came to rescue me. But she was heading for me at speed. She came too close: her bulbous bow injured my right hand and leg.

She had rigged a pilot ladder and two lifebuoys on each side. But I couldn't catch hold of them because of her bow wave.

She approached a second time. But I was scared, as I had been struck by the bow and injured the first time, and I swam away. From the water I was shouting to them to lower the rescue boat. But they didn't.

A third time she started to head towards me. Now I was thinking that I shouldn't be scared. I should catch hold of the bow or a lifebuoy or ladder.

Though I might be injured, I would survive. So I was maintaining a position right ahead of the ship. Her bulbous bow was out of the water: she was a bigger ship than ours.

Then the bow hit my head and I sank deep underwater.

My lifejacket and lifebuoy floated me up again. But I was sucked up under the bottom of the ship. To save my head I tried to fend off the keel with my left arm.

The ship was running over me and took off the flesh. I was swallowing sea water through my nose and mouth.

Luckily I came out from under the ship. I found I was bleeding from both my hands, my head and my leg. My immersion suit was torn and water was getting in.

So I took the suit off. I shouted to the ship's crew, telling them I was injured and asking them to lower a rescue boat. They heard me but did nothing.

I saw no lookout forward on any of the three approaches. After that I started floating again with my lifejacket and lifebuoy.

Suddenly I started vomiting. That went on for a long time. During this time I saw that a few lights were floating here and there. One of them came close to me. I shouted to him. It was one of the deck cadets.

We swam to each other, and floated holding hands. Suddenly a big swell came and the cadet lost his lifejacket.

He became nervous and said, ''What will happen to me? I will die.'' He started swimming to catch his lifejacket again. But I didn't let him go.

I said, ''If you leave me you will be lost. Don't worry. We will stay together. Come inside my lifebuoy. We will face the situation together.''

I took him inside my lifebuoy: we were stowed so compactly that nothing could knock us out of it.

We waited for the liferaft to be rescued, believing that the ship would then come back for us. But after sunrise she went away and was lost to sight.

The sea current was opposite to the direction of the swell. As most of us was under water, we were moving against the swell.

Around 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning I saw a helicopter and a ship with a blue hull about 6 or 7 miles away from us. We tried to attract their attention by waving our lifejacket but nobody saw us.

I was thinking that if I had my walkie-talkie with me I could contact them. But all the GMDSS equipment, including my walkie-talkie, had been transferred to the liferaft.

After some while the helicopter and the ship went away. I watched the sun to determine the way we were floating.

I realised that we were drifting westward where there was no coast, no land and no shipping routes.

I became sure that we would die. Most of the time I was thinking about the Captain's hand and regretting that only that little distance had meant that I couldn't join the raft. I thought that everybody in the liferaft would surely survive.

After some time I found some fishes were biting our toes and fingers. Luckily they were not so big: their length was less than a meter.

If I kept my legs still, the fish started to bite. For that reason I kept moving my legs all the time.

About 1400 I heard a loud cry: ''Allah!'' I shouted, ''Who is there? Raise your hand. Come closer.''

But there was no reply. Around an hour later I saw a body floating close to us. We swam to it: it was one of the oilers. We checked thoroughly whether he was alive, but he was dead.

I released the body and again started floating.

We were experiencing a very high swell and as we were floating against it I was getting hurt by each wave. I could hardly tolerate the situation.

I couldn't see any possibility of being rescued. I accepted death. My pain became meaningless to me because today or tomorrow I would die.

Once, I convinced myself to leave the lifejacket and get down underwater. But I didn't do that just to check my stamina. My whole body became numb with pain but I didn't lose hope. I was fighting for life in the deep sea.

Just before sunset I saw two more bodies floating ahead of us, moving up and down in the high swell. One of them was alive: he was shouting.

The other was our Captain and he was dead. But I couldn't reach them. The sun set and they became invisible.

Everything was dark. Our lifejacket light had died as it only had 8 hours' life. The cadet slept on my back. He was cold too and asked permission to hug me.

Sometimes ships were visible. I could see one ship near to us. I started to blow the lifejacket whistle. I think that ship heard my whistle but couldn't identify us as we had no lights.

Later we saw some fishing net lights. We tried to reach them but were unable to for the high swell.

Both of us hardly survived the second night. After sunrise I couldn't control my sleepy eyes. I slept and the cadet was awake.

The swell splashed my face and kept waking me up. Slowly I was losing my normal mental condition. I was experiencing hallucinations: I had the feeling that our ship had been re-boarded by everyone except us.

About 4 o'clock in the afternoon I opened my eyes and saw a ship near to us. She threw two lifebuoys with lines. I told the cadet to catch one.

He caught the forward one and was able to climb in. I caught the aft one and found myself beneath the curvature of the ship's hull.

They were pulling the lifebuoy. But I was getting scratched against the hull.

So I left the buoy and started floating again. They too did not lower a rescue boat. After floating for half an hour more I saw a Thai Navy ship, and found two divers in the water.

A stretcher was lowered by winch. The divers helped me into it. I was rescued just before sunset.

If the sun had set, I would not have lived. I had no lights and gradually I was losing my stamina. For that I feel very lucky. After floating for more than 40 hours I was rescued at last.

Aboard the Navy ship they gave me primary treatment then took me to the hospital by helicopter. After being rescued I heard that not everyone had been rescued from the liferaft. The first rescue ship had hit the liferaft with her bow as she did me.

The raft capsized and everyone was scattered. Only five men could be brought aboard the ship. Another crew member survived by holding onto the liferaft: a helicopter rescued him.

Mobarak was the last of nine of Hope's crew to be rescued. Two bodies were recovered, including that of the Chief Officer. The Captain and the 2nd Engineer are among the missing.

The Royal Thai Navy ship Pattani played a key role in the rescue.

Credit: maritime-executive.com, International Maritime Rescue Federation