A young survivor has recounted the ordeal of trying to save his friend from the rough sea, before a strong wave suddenly pulled the victim away from an improvised rope made of clothes.

The body of Kamonasish Chando, known as Tanmoy, was found by the Armed Forces of Malta on Monday around two miles north of l-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa. He was found two days after the alert was launched.

Speaking to Times of Malta on Tuesday,  survivor Hridoy Hasan expressed his state of despair as other friends who were still on shore could not pull the exhausted swimmers as they tried to climb the sharp wall of rocks.

Hridoy, 21, shared an apartment with Tanmoy, both students at the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology.

Tanmoy arrived in Malta in January to attend a preparatory access course. The friends had been planning a trip to the coral lagoon in Mellieħa for weeks.

Before leaving with another two Bangladeshi friends, they checked the weather forecast – all was fine. When they arrived on site they saw many people surfing.

The plan was to jump off the high rocks into the coral lagoon, then swim out of the lagoon and along the shore to exit the water from a shallower area.

Hridoy jumped in first followed by Tanmoy while the other two friends remained on the shore a bit longer.

They swam in the lagoon for about five minutes and then decided to make their way to the shore.

“The sea was quite calm. But within some 45 seconds it changed suddenly. I could feel the sea was no longer calm. It was going crazy. Within seconds there were big waves,” Hridoy said.

The plan was to jump off the high rocks into the lagoon, then swim out

The two friends started swimming towards the shore in the rough sea. It was exhausting. Hridoy managed to reach the shoreline first.

“Suddenly I heard him call. He was still far out, shouting: ‘Help, help. I can’t swim anymore. Please help me’. I was strengthless. But I turned back to try to help him. I placed him against my chest and attempted to reach the shore,” he says.

But the two tired men could not climb up the sharp wall of rocks, which was about two or three metres high.

In the ensuing panic, friends who were still on shore created a rope made from clothes and threw it to the two swimmers.

“We tried to grab it but the water was so powerful. There were people on the rocks, about 10 or 12 people. Some were shouting: ‘Help, they’re sinking’. But nobody did anything,” he recalled.

“I told Tanmoy to grab the rope, which he did. Meanwhile, he had swallowed salt water and was shouting: ‘Help me, don’t leave me’. I told him we would be saved. He just had to hold on to the rope.”

Hridoy realised that, if they swam about 20 or 30 metres to the right, they would be able to get out of the water. But his friend was too tired.

He told him to hold on while he swam around and would then help him out. But as soon as Hridoy started swimming, a sudden wave pulled them under.

“I struggled to come up. It was so powerful. There was a moment when I lost hope. I closed my eyes. I started thinking of my mother, my father, my God,” he said.

“Then a wave suddenly threw me up. I grabbed a rock with all the strength I had. He was still at the rope.”

Hridoy knew that if another wave came, he would be dragged under. He managed to climb up the sharp rocks – his hands and knees now bleeding, injuring his right leg in the process.

When he reached the shore he lay down and lifted his head to see his friend was still there.

He saw a boat approaching from the Comino side just a few minutes away and shouted to Tanmoy that he would soon be saved.

“Suddenly a big wave came and took him to the middle of the sea. He was shouting for help. After about one minute he just sank. About a minute later the boat arrived... sometime after the helicopter was there as well,” he says.

A spokesperson for MCAST on Tuesday said the victim was a student reading for the preparatory access course.

“He was a hard-working and motivated student who was loved by his colleagues,” he said.

“The loss of any student, particularly in so tragic circumstances, grievously wounds us all.”

MCAST said it immediately offered support to Kamonasish’s friends and also to his colleagues through its counselling services.