Lost At Sea

With the advent of the gray months, when the fury of the sea begins to simmer then bursts into a boil, Tartous braces itself for expected yet never acceptable losses.

Shortly after leaving port in the Black Sea and loaded with 10,000 tons of steel, "Haj Ismail", the ship, came face to face with a ferocious storm not far from the Ukrainian-Russian shoreline. The Georgian flagged vessel is truly Syrian at heart. Manned by 17 seamen of our own, she was sailing home to Tartous. The deranged sea toyed with her making her pitch high and low against the onslaught of gigantic waves and strong winds, then on an impluse split her in two. Within moments, she vanished in the abyss with all souls onboard except for two. Bassel Aga of Lattakia and Khodr Yahia of Tartous, were the only two survivors who made it to shore in the freezing water and the giant swells. They stayed afloat by sheer strong will and an extraordinary twist of fate as they were on deck the moment tragedy struck. Semi-conscious, they lied exhausted on the beach until they were later rescued and transported to hospital.

This is a repeat and devastating blow we suffer year after year before Tartous goes into a stupefied rendition of mourning. There are no faces to take a last look at, no bodies to burry, no tombstones to sit by and cry. Mothers would go on eternally in a state of animated suspension, staring out of windows, waiting for a phone call or a courier bringing a message of a miracle. Pregnant wives would deliver their babies and raise them alone, never telling their children that their fathers had died.

"He might return one day, your daddy, but I can't tell you when", the lonely woman whispers to her little boy behind invisible tears. "Mommy, when I grow up I want to travel the sea like him" her only child with resilient eyes says. "No my son, never, please promise me, never" she pleads. Stubbornly the boy answers with the only reply he hears from all the young men in the family, "I can't mom, I'm a Tartoussi and I would drown if I step out of the sea".

"Haj Ismail" sunk with 9 other vessels of various flags in the exact same area around the Straight of Kerch on Sunday the 11^th of November, 2007. All her seamen were less than 33 years old with a couple of them in their teens still. Some were only sons, others expecting fathers and many not even married yet. A few of her young boys were neighbors I always see when they are onshore.

How can I find it in me to pray for their souls to rest when their families aspire for their return? Is there any solace that they died doing what they loved best? Are they swimming with the mermaids in an emerald sea or looking from the blue of the sky above?

Tartous continues to wait.

Lost at Sea, November 11, 2007 (Walid Mohamad Sabra, Fawaz Mohamad Khaled, Abdul Kader Mustafa Hindi, Ahmad Mustafa Latesh, Ahmad Khaled Monem, Abdallah Asaad Tohme, Mohamad Asaad Ayash, Mohamad Adnan Sayed, Nasser Mahmoud Tohme, Diaa Subhi Abdul Halim Mohamad, Abdul Aziz Jbaret Allah Hasan, Faysal Ahmad Rajab, Housam Haytham Khalil, Hassan Mustafa Zein and Mounir Aziz Abbas)