WORLD NATIONAL SPORTS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT
Up to 200 illegal migrants rescued from
rusting, rickety ship
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A
suspected illegal migrant ship is escorted by the Canadian
Coast Guard off of Vancouver Island. (DND)
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DENE MOORE
GOLD RIVER, B.C. (CP) - Almost 200 illegal
migrants were rescued from their rusting ship Tuesday and clambered
aboard Canadian vessels after authorities became concerned the
decrepit boat might sink.
After 72 days at sea from China, the vessel
crammed with smuggled human cargo was being escorted to the west
coast of Vancouver Island when officials concluded Tuesday it could
go no farther safely.
"It was considered to be a vessel that could not
carry on its own steam or even with assistance to port," Immigration
spokesman George Varnai said.
"It's a fairly small boat compared to the number of people it was
carrying."
The migrants were moved to the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Tanu,
the RCMP Inkster and HMCS Algonquin.
Varnai said there were doctors available to assess the
passengers' health. Several were suffering from mild hypothermia and
dehydration and one was suffering from severe abdominal pain.
The ships will continue to travel down the coast to Gold River,
where a team of RCMP and Immigration authorities wait along with
others.
Several school buses were rushed to Gold River to transport the
migrants to a facility at Esquimalt, near Victoria.
The converted gymnasium at the naval base has housed two other
boatloads - a total of 254 migrants - in just over a month.
Varnai said an actual head count on this ship has not yet been
done, but authorities estimate there are up to 190 migrants, some of
them women and teenagers. There are no children.
"The occupants of the vessel all appear to be of Chinese origin.
We believe they are from Fujian province and we have not yet
determined who the crew were," he said.
The migrants on the previous two ships were also from Fujian
province.
Immigration officials released very few details about the ship
until it was seized.
Varnai said authorities now believe the smugglers have help on
shore and their ships are equipped to communicate with their
on-shore associates.
"We believe these vessels normally. . . plan to
unload without being detected and that. . . requires
assistance on shore so it is a reasonable supposition that there is
communication going on."
The latest ship has prompted criticism that authorities should
have kept better watch so it could have been diverted before it
entered Canadian waters.
Russ Hellberg, mayor of Port Hardy, wondered how authorities
could have missed the bright-orange rust-bucket of a ship,
especially when the salmon fishing season has been halted and there
are few fishing boats on the water.
Port Alberni Mayor Gillian Trumper said there obviously isn't
enough policing of the coast.
"This west coast is miles and miles of coastline which is
unprotected," she said. "There are many things happening on it. It
would give communities some comfort if there is an RCMP boat
stationed here most of the year."
But Lieut. Paul Seguna, a spokesman for the Defence Department,
said Defence is responsible for over one million square kilometres
on the West Coast.
He said he wouldn't be surprised if the ship followed a course
that made it difficult to be identified.
"It would be in keeping that after detection by the aircraft, if
they were aware of that detection, that they may have taken some
alterations of course to inject more of a question of what their
intents were."
Seguna said a submarine purchased second-hand from the British
Royal Navy will be operating on the West Coast within several years
and that will help.
"A submarine can cover some 125,000 square kilometres
continuously over a 40- to 50-day patrol."
The arrivals have also touched off a heated debate about Canada's
immigration and refugee policies.
A recent poll found Canadians evenly split on whether the
migrants should be sent back or whether they should have access to
the refugee process.
Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan made it clear Tuesday that
refugee claimants - no matter how they arrive - are entitled to the
normal process.
B.C. Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh said he sympathizes with
those who believe Canadians are being taken advantage of.
"There are no easy solutions. One of the things that we need to
do is have more policing. The other thing we need to do is enhance
the process, make it speedier, quicker and more effective and then,
once these people do come, deal with them at the earliest possible
(time.)"
The migrant arrivals have stretched to the limit the budgets of
the local Immigration Department branch and the RCMP.
The RCMP was facing a tight budget even before the arrivals.
A long-range Aurora aircraft spotted the vessel about 80
kilometres off Cape Scott during a routine patrol Monday afternoon.
Citizenship and Immigration asked for assistance from the RCMP,
the Canadian Coast Guard and the Defence Department.
The first ship was found off Nootka Sound, near the northern
Vancouver Island community of Gold River, on July 20.
All 123 Chinese nationals aboard have since claimed refugee
status.
The second ship carrying 131 people arrived Aug. 11 after a
60-day voyage from China.
The migrants were dropped in the water off the southern tip of
the Queen Charlotte Islands and told to wade to shore.
Of those, 57 people face possible deportation. The remaining 74
are being assessed as potential refugees.
There were 75 minors among the migrants who are now in the care
of the provincial Ministry for Children and Families.
Some dates in this summer's saga of smuggling ships
bringing illegal migrants: |
July 20: A rusty ship carrying 123 Chinese migrants is spotted
and towed to Gold River, off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Aug. 11: Another ship carrying 131 Chinese migrants dumps its
human cargo on a remote beach on the Queen Charlotte Islands. Many
are children. The ship's captain and crew are later arrested.
Aug. 12: 132 Chinese migrants are discovered in the hold of a
ship docked in Savannah, Ga.
Aug. 15: The U.S. Coast Guard intercepts a ship carrying 100
Chinese migrants near the Mariana Islands, south of Japan. Some say
they were headed for Vancouver.
Aug. 27: About 75 Chinese migrants are rescued in a broken-down
boat off the South Pacific island of Midway near Hawaii by the U.S.
Coast Guard after being adrift for 30 days. Their destination is
unknown.
Aug. 30: The Canadian navy spots a suspected smugglers' ship
believed to be carrying up to 190 Chinese migrants off the northwest
shore of Vancouver Island.
© The Canadian Press, 1999
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