So they set off making their way on foot along the coast of the sea until when they embarked on the ship which was carrying them he al-Khidr made a hole in it by destroying a plank or two on the starboard side with an axe after they had sailed into deep waters. Said he Moses to him ‘Did you make a hole in it to drown its people? li-tughriqa ahlahā ‘for you to drown its people’; a variant reading has li-yaghraqa ahluhā ‘so that its people might drown’. You have certainly done a dreadful thing’ that is a grave and reprehensible thing — it is reported that the water did not actually penetrate it.