Refugees and sinkings

December 15, 2010, a day that many will remember for the rest of their lives.

We were woken at just after 6:00am, by another Doctor from <redacted due to company policy> (the company that Chris is working for) who told us, that a boat was was just off Christmas Island, and was in trouble.

Quickly all the Docs agreed to a plan to handle what may occur, some went to the location, and others went to the  hospital to await any casualties.


Chris and I agreed to keep the kids at home away from the site where the boat was located (a decision we were later happy to have made), as little did we know what was going to occur.

As the day unfolded, the tragedy that was occurring was hard to fathom on the island, from the top of the island (where we live), all that could be seen was the customs and navy patrol boat off shore cruising up and down a km off shore, while many small rubber duckies could be seen in closer to the shore surrounded by lots of wood in the watrer.

Its hard for people who have never been here to understand that  Christmas Island is in very deep water, and is surrounded by cliffs that are very very high, so high, that to climb them on a good day is almost impossible, let alone a day like yesterday, the cliffs are a very sharp limestone, so sharp that wearing thongs while walking on them is painful, let along being in a surging 8 meter high swell that was occurring yesterday. 

Chris saw the single survivor who made it to shore unaided , every  other survivors were plucked from the water by the navy guys, who from all accounts did an amazing job, in very dangerous situation.

The sea was so dangerous, that they had to land all the survivors on the lee side of the island, which was a 30 minute boat ride away.

So many people died, so many families were ripped apart, I don't even know what you say to somebody who saw his wife and child drown in front of him, while it was impossible to do anything to help those people.

I am not sure what the way to solve this problem is, but I do know that after what happened, something has to be done, or more people will die, while many will blame the people smugglers, its us the, Australian people who need to change whats happening and until we do, the refugees will continue to take the risks, and will take to the seas for a better life. This is not a political point scoring game,this is about people's lives so all of us need to get involved because we are part of the human family!!!