MUMBAI, May 24: Though they were glad to be alive, it was nevertheless an incensed group of 20 Indian tourists who arrived at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at around 6 pm today. They were among the 129 Indian passengers who survived the sinking of the luxury liner, Sun Vista, off the Malaysian coast on Thursday. The 700-foot-long cruise liner had as many as 1,200 persons on board when it went down following a massive fire in its engine room.Though warmly received by relatives after their close call today, the Indians were completely at sea in Singapore on Saturday. ``There was not even a peon from the Indian embassy to receive us and render assistance. Are they there only on a vacation,'' asked D Gupta, who accompanied his wife and three granchildren on the cruise. ``There were only four Australian tourists on the liner, but the entire Australian embassy including the ambassador personally met the survivors and helped them out at Singapore,'' he said. There was no response from the Indianembassy even when they left Singapore today.Abhay Bhagat, a 32-year-old chartered accountant from Mumbai had a similar tale to tell. ``There were only two Swiss nationals but even they were received by their embassy staff. Strong action should be taken against the Indian embassy for negligence of duty.''Apparently, plans of the Indian survivors to take out a protest march to the Indian embassy on Sunday were overtaken by exhaustion. All the survivors had spent seven weary hours bobbing in lifeboats, some of them seasick, in the Malacca Straits before being rescued.Bhagat recalled just how close a call the tourists had all had. ``A little after 4 pm, we were lowered into lifeboats and just when we were circling the ship, I could see the fire engulfing one end of the vessel. Then, in moments, the ship went down,'' he shudders, pausing to add, ``If the captain had delayed operations by even half an hour, we would have been dead.'' The ship was on the last leg of its cruise from Phuket to Singapore aspart of the six days seven nights voyage when tragedy struck.At around 2.30 pm, 13-year-old Sahil Aggarwal, a resident of Chembur, was asked to come out of this cabin and climb to the upper deck along with his family who were told there was technical glitch in the ship. But he sensed something was amiss. ``I could see smoke billowing out of the engine room.'' Visions from the blockbuster, Titanic, which he had seen at least four times, only stoked his discomfort.But unlike the macabre faux pas committed by the makers of the ill-fated Titanic, the makers of the Sun Vista did not sacrifice safety for aesthetics. In addition to the eight decks, five whirlpools, bars and casinos, the liner boasted of 18 lifeboats, each with a seating capacity of 50.However, when the passengers were being lowered into lifeboats, an Indian lady fainted. ``But there was nothing to panic. The waters were warm and tropical unlike the icy Atlantic in the Titanic,'' seven-year-old Sahej Gupta recalled. Of course,cameras, tape recorders and new clothes bought by the passengers during shopping binges in Thailand landed on the seabed.And again, the fact that the disaster occured in bright sunshine kept spirits from sagging. Gopi Patel, a 17-year-old who had accompanied her parents Ashok and Hasu Patel, recalled how like in the Titanic, the captain had arranged a song and dance programme on deck to keep their attention from the impending disaster. She praised the captain of the Sun Vista for taking quick decisions and saving their lives.Bhagat even recalled how coincidentally the last tune the orchestra struck before packing up and climbing into the lifeboats was My Heart will go on from the Titanic! After the boats hit the water, nearly half the passengers felt seasick and began vomitting. They were later rescued and taken to Penang in Malaysia on Friday.
