'Why am I going to die? Why can’t I just go home?' - The incredible survival story of triathlete Els Visser

In 2014, Els Visser was on a snorkelling tour in Indonesia when the boat she was sharing with over 20 others suddenly started to sink at night. Ad Visser was soon plunged into the black ocean after a wave crashed into the boat, before she was hauled out of the water and onto a small lifeboat. The group divided between the lifeboat, barely big enough for six people, and balanced precariously on the roof of the sinking boat.

Triathlon'Why am I going to die?' — The incredible survival story of triathlete Visser2 HOURS AGO “That’s how we basically waited all night. The fear, all the questions in my mind like ‘what’s going to happen?’,” Visser recounted on the latest episode of The Power of Sport. “Of course I had these thoughts going through my mind: ‘why am I going to die? I’m 24 years old.

I still have my whole life ahead of me. I’m still at university, why can’t I just go home?’ “It was also very painful to think about my loved ones. “In the morning, the sun rose and in that moment there was relief that it was light.

We had managed to get through the night. Mel Nicholls is eyeing an unexpected return to the paralympic circuit Sophie Coldwell claims first World Triathlon Championships Series win “When I looked round me there was just endless sea but I saw an island far away and that was a type of hope for me – ‘there is at least an island’.” Despite the obvious risks involved, Visser and four others decided to swim to the island – fighting big waves and using whistles attached to their life jackets to stay together. “In the end, I’m not scared of dying because I’ve had a great life and if that moment were to come I wouldn’t know anything about it,” said Visser.