麻豆社

Standing on a ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean during World War Two, eight-year-old Abdul Gaffer Osman, his mother and three-year-old brother were left with two choices.

"There was no time to think," the now 91-year-old said. "If you stayed on the ship, you were going to die, if you jumped in the water, you're going to die also."

The SS Tilawa was en route from India to South Africa when it was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine on 23 November 1942.

Today, Mr Osman, who moved to Leicester in the 70s, is among few living survivors of the little-known tragedy that claimed the lives of 280 people.

Abdul has been speaking to 麻豆社 Leicester's Deepak Patel.

Image: Supplied