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Migrant ships now tourist hit on West Coast
WebPosted Mon May 15 09:10:34 2000

PORT ALBERNI, B.C. - The decrepit ships that brought hundreds of illegal Chinese migrants to B.C. last summer now have something their passengers don't: a permanent home, in Canada.

The vessels have become an unlikely tourist attraction on Vancouver Island.

The Alberni Reef Society bought three of the four ships for $1000 and towed them to the Port Alberni harbour.

The ships once carried a human cargo of almost 600 illegal migrants. They're now open to the public and attracting a steady stream of visitors.

"To actually feel it, to see it, to smell it, it's a totally different experience," says one visitor.

Sven Juthans of the Alberni Reef Society

Sven Juthans of the Alberni Reef Society said the notoriety of the ships draws the visitors.

"Just the publicity that was created last year created a huge amount of interest. Once we'd purchased it, they asked if they could come aboard," Juthans said.

This weekend, the society began charging $5 to anyone who wanted to go aboard to see the cramped condition. It gave some people a sense of how horrible it was for the migrants as they crossed the Pacific.

"They must have been desperate to come," one woman said. "You know, they're not crazy, they're desperate."

Others did not want to even venture aboard the ship.

"You couldn't pay me enough to get on that ship," another woman said.

Although 40 tons of garbage were removed from the ships and they've been steam-cleaned and chemically washed, the stench of vomit and human excrement lingers.

"The condition of the ships is pretty grim, and to picture having lived on board for 30 days, it just blows your mind," Juthans said.

The ships may find a permanent home off the coast of British Columbia. Near the end of the summer, there are plans to sink them to form an artificial reef for a different kind of tourist — recreational divers.

"Within five years, this thing will be teaming with life. There will be octopus in the hold and fish swimming all around it. It'll be a beautiful dive site," Juthans said.

But the Alberni Reef Society must still raise $150,000 before they can sink the ships and create the dive site .


Deborah Goble reports for CBC News
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