Notes on a Shipwreck: A Story of Refugees, Borders, and Hope by Antony Shugaar & Davide Enia & Antony Shugaar

Author:Antony Shugaar & Davide Enia & Antony Shugaar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Other Press
Published: 2017-05-17T23:00:00+00:00

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Gabriella said: “Around ten at night we arrived at the target but we couldn’t see it. It was all too dark. In the darkness, we could just catch a glimpse of the other patrol boat, which just like us was sailing back and forth, and in the distance the tugboat from the oil platform, an immense, enormous structure. While we went on searching, all the running lights were on, the waves were still very high, and everything was black. The sky was black, the sea was black. The moon, on the other hand, was enormous and beautiful. A big, full African moon. At last, we found them. They were aboard a rubber dinghy. The diver and the members of the crew started maneuvering for rescue. But then everyone aboard the rubber dinghy started jumping up and moving. They were waving their hands. They wanted to get aboard our ship right away. They were all getting agitated. We members of the CISOM set off wearing our uniform: a white T-shirt with a logo reading either CISOM PHYSICIAN or CISOM NURSE, dark-blue waterproof trousers, running shoes, and when we board the patrol boat, a white Tyvek jumpsuit, which is a pleasure to wear in the winter, though in the summer not so much. The jumpsuit has a hood and, since I was wearing that hood, I realized that the hood might be scaring the kids. I took off the hood, in part to show them that I was a woman, and I started shouting: ‘Quiet! We are here to help you!’ One of the leaders understood and, translating the message, had them pass it along the length of the rubber dinghy. As soon as they calmed down, they were gradually taken aboard our ship, one at a time. They were all males, one hundred four people on a single rubber dinghy. On the bow of the rubber dinghy someone had written the number 3 in magic marker. There must have been two other rubber dinghies out on the water. The report that had come in, in fact, mentioned three rubber dinghies, not just one. We never did find the other two.”

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