They were there when Tanmoy disappeared into the sea, helpless to save him as he battled sudden surges of powerful waves in Mellieħa.

They keep wondering if there was something else they, or someone, could have done to save their friend. But the death of Tanmoy isn’t the only thing they are dealing with.

Among the grieving Bangladeshi community, some speculate about what led to Tanmoy’s death, with some pointed theories arising. Elsewhere, online commenters are calling them “stupid Indian refugees”.

“Every time I sleep or want to close my eyes, he is calling me,” Hridoy says. 

Here is Hridoy’s firsthand account of the moment his world turned upside down.

We had seen Coral Lagoon on a lot of travel videos and Youtube videos… it’s a beautiful place so we wanted to have a look. It was Tanmoy’s mom’s birthday, so before we left for the bus he called her and said he’d call her later that evening.

We got there at around 1:30pm on Saturday, and people were about. There were surfers nearby and families at the beach, the water was calm.

We looked at where we were going to jump and saw the best way to exit once were done. We had an exit plan and agreed on what to do.

I was the first to jump, and a few minutes later, Tanmoy jumped.

Our other two friends were still up there and getting ready to jump so we started to leave the hole and we exited to the open water and started moving to get out.

The water was still calm, and we started swimming towards the rocky shore. As we got closer though, we felt something really strange happening in the water, the currents were getting stronger, the waves bigger.

All of a sudden we could feel the water getting much rougher, and we started to panic. I started to panic. I swam to the shore as fast as I could, and I got there but Tanmoy was maybe 60 metres behind me.

He started shouting at me for help, and even though I knew it was risky and I was scared, I went back for him.

He was really scared, and he can’t swim so well, so I grabbed him on my stomach, lay on my back and started paddling back to the land. He was strengthless and fearful, and we were both gulping water at this point.

The waves were getting powerful and we couldn’t make it back to the shore, and we ended up getting pushed and slammed against the rock cliff. It was impossible to climb, it was a sheer wall with sharp rocks, but we tried to grab on even though we were getting cut.

Our two friends had tied up our shirts into a makeshift rope, and they threw it down. They were screaming for help, and some Maltese people answered – a woman called the police for help I think – and a man told us to calm down, he said he swims there every day and if we calm down we will survive.

We held onto the wall and the rope, I held onto a rock and it cut my finger so bad the blood was dripping on my eyes, but I looked to the sea and I saw a patrol boat coming.

The boat was just a minute or two away, so I told Tanmoy to hold onto the rope and just stay there. Our other two friends were still shouting for help, but no one came to the cliff edge to see what was happening. Our friends were holding onto a rock with one hand and the rope with the other hand to reach Tanmoy, but he was strengthless and they couldn’t pull him up.

I knew I couldn’t hold on for longer so I let go and tried to swim. Then, a big wave hit me, and I went under.

I tried so swim up, I pushed so hard, but something was pulling me down. No matter what I did, I was not reaching the surface.

After 20 seconds, I lost hope, stopped fighting and said ‘this is it. I’m ready.’ I can’t do it. I started reciting the Kalima, and thought of my mother, sister and family, and I closed my eyes.

Then out of nowhere, I felt a force pushing me. It was just too powerful. This wave pushed me all the way to the rock, and I grabbed on and jumped out before the wave came back to pull me back.

I truly believe I was saved by the hands of God. I am trusting in him.

On land, I looked back and saw Tanmoy was still holding on the rope, and the patrol boat was maybe a minute away. All of a sudden, a wave came and hit that part of the wall, a big wave, and when it went back Tanmoy wasn’t there anymore.

We started shouting, and then we saw his head in the middle of the water, and he was screaming for help. Hridoy please save me, help me! Then he went under. 30 seconds later, the patrol boat arrived and asked us what happened.

We told them, and they said we needed to go for medical treatment. We were crying now, and told them we weren’t leaving before our friend was found… but they asked us for our documents and told us we were under their custody.

I entered the ambulance and passed out. I woke up in the hospital but was released soon after because they said it wasn’t too safe to be there cause of the COVID situation.

We’ve been recovering at home since then.

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