Vancouver nurse recalls ‘horrifying’ scenes as part of Mediterranean rescue effort

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A thousand migrants have been rescued on the Mediterranean this week alone.

A record 181,000 mainly African boat migrants reached Italy last year.

Vancouver nurse Courtney Burcan spent part of last year on a boat operated by Doctors Without Borders on the Mediterranean.

She is back in Vancouver and shared her experience with NEWS 1130’s Renee Bernard.

NEWS 1130: So what was the first rescue like?

Courtney: It definitely is not something you forget the first time you see 130 people clinging to a flimsy dinghy, with no life jackets and no land in site. It’s pretty unbelievable.

NEWS 1130: So were they happy to see you?

Courtney: The first rescue I was on was funny. They saw us and headed in the opposite direction quite quickly. Because they are coming from war zones and Libya, they automatically thought we were the military and thought we were going to shoot them. That’s why they headed in the opposite direction.

NEWS 1130: Were you able to rescue them?

Courtney: Yes, we did.

NEWS 1130: Was there any scenario that was particularly appalling or shocking for you?

Courtney: I think every single rescue was like that. I couldn’t believe their stories. People had lived some very challenging lives. The trip to get to Libya, to begin with, for people from Sub-Saharan Africa, is hell. And once they arrive in Libya often they get put in prisons, and they get extorted for money. They’re tortured. The women are often raped. The children don’t get enough food. So the stories are horrific. And sometimes the rescues went poorly. Often the boat is already in distress when we come across it. The boat is sinking and people start jumping in the water once they see us coming. Or we get to the boat and it’s already missing its occupants because people have drowned. Quite a few rescues were horrifying.

NEWS 1130: Who were on these boats?

Courtney: Predominantly men, but there were quite a few women and children. And so many babies. That’s what shocked me the most. There was a ten-day-old baby on the boat.

NEWS 1130: Had it been born on the boat?

Courtney: It was born in Libya. And we had five-day-old premie twin boys. One of them was in poor condition. Luckily we were able to medivac them. There were a lot of women were pregnant. We had to do some medivacs for them.

 

NEWS 1130: Had these women been raped?

Courtney: Definitely some had been raped. That wasn’t uncommon. We had some that had been raped and they were diagnosed with HIV on the boat. That was heartbreaking. These women had left everything behind. They have nothing. Most of them didn’t have a penny to their names. All they have are the clothes on their backs and they’re five months pregnant with a human smugger’s baby – and we have to tell them they are now HIV positive.

NEWS 1130: What’s awaiting them once you deposit them on soil in Italy?

Courtney: That is a hard aspect of this mission. You are joyous when you rescue them and they are elated because they are now headed to Europe. They think they are about to get jobs or they’re headed to school. Unfortunately, the reality is, the vast majority won’t get refugee status. So many fall through the cracks because they stay in Europe. They can’t work and they don’t have any rights to medical care. Many women are trafficked into sex slavery and into prostitution. That is one of the most heartbreaking things. These women are so hopeful when we pick them up and they’ve had such challenging lives. They’re not going to have the lives in Europe they were hoping to have.