One of the four survivors of a harrowing nine-day ordeal at sea believes it was the smell of Tiger Balm that saved them from certain death out in the South China Sea last week.
Resort owner Tommy Lam Wai Yin said that he had prayed to his grandmother, asking for her help when his boat — carrying three others — remained unnoticed as it drifted past at least 25 ships.
“I had given up hope on the eighth day. I told the others to prepare for death. I prayed to my grandmother asking her for help. I promised that I will be good and take care of her great-grandchildren,” The Star Online quoted him as saying.
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The father of two, along with resort worker Armella Ali Hassan, 23 and Spaniards David Hernandes Gasulla, 29, Martha Miguel, 30, were lost at sea for nine days before a Vietnamese fishing boat spotted and rescued them off Layang Layang on May 12.
All four had been on their way back to Simpang Mengayau from Pulau Balambangan on May 2 when strong waves and changing winds led to the boat capsizing.
“I’m an atheist but now I believe there’s definitely a higher power,” he said, recalling the struggle.
It was at the point of giving up that Lam, a Chinese national married to a Sabahan, said he got a whiff of Tiger Balm — a heat rub for external pain relief popular in many Malaysian households — on the eighth night, and believed it was a good sign.
“I asked Martha if she could smell it too, and she said yes, so I thought someone must have done something or put some kind of spell on this boat or perhaps it was a good omen,” The Star Online quoted him as saying.
Lam — who claimed their boat ride faced bad luck from the beginning — was further quoted as saying that he told Miguel to ‘wash’ the bow of the boat with her menses and urine in order to get rid of any “evil spell” that may have been cast upon the boat.
Hours after this, the Vietnamese fishing boat spotted them, Lam said, and they were brought back to land by Malaysian coastguards.
