KUALA PERLIS: The question of whether they would live or die was what occupied the thoughts of a group of anglers and crewmen as drifted for six long hours in the middle of the sea after their boat capsized off Langkawi waters yesterday.

Father of three, Mohd Azril Abdullah, 41, who was one of the anglers who went through the ordeal, said he and his 13 fellow anglers, along with the four crew members were very lucky to be spotted and rescued by a fishing vessel from Kuala Kedah.

"We had almost given up hope as light began to fade and we split into two groups to increase our chances of being rescued," he told Bernama upon arrival at the Kuala Perlis Jetty from Langkawi Island.

Bernama reported yesterday that all 14 anglers and four crew members, locals aged 26 to 55, were successfully rescued by a local fishing vessel at around 7.30 pm after their boat capsized at 2.15 pm at 9.4 nautical miles west of Pulau Beras Basah near Langkawi.

Mohd Azril, who works at Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), said he and his friends were so grateful when their emergency signal was spotted by a local fishing vessel making its way through the area.

"The emergency signal via torchlight managed to catch their attention but if it hadn't, we would have lost all hope of being rescued," he added.

Meanwhile, fellow rescuee, Mohd Shahrin Shamsuddin, 43, said he and his friends had tried not to panic and held on to each other as the boat started to capsize amid strong winds and rough sea conditions.

The teacher from Sekolah Kebangsaan Sena said the boat had begun leaking at the bow and started to take on water fast, sinking within 10 to 15 minutes.

"It all happened so quickly and we tried not to give up while waiting to be rescued by the search team," the father of two said.

The youngest victim, Mohd Farid Ghazali, 26, said that a crew member managed to send a distress signal to rescuers before the incident happened.

"The fishing vessel found us around 30 kilometres from where we sank and we feel so grateful after we were all rescued safely," he added.

-- BERNAMA