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Negombo, Sri Lanka: When their engine broke down in a rough sea and several began to vomit blood, the 12 young men aboard a small trawler bound for Australia feared they would not be killed. .
“If the [Australian] Border Force had been a day or two later, one of us could have died, “said Sri Lankan fisherman Pathmanathan Anthony Pradeep, 31.” Some were so sick and there was only water left for two days. “
In interviews with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Sri Lanka, the men recounted how they spent 19 dangerous days in the Indian Ocean before being intercepted west of Christmas Island on the morning of the federal election. ‘Australia.
Fisherman Pathmanathan Anthony Pradeep with his son and other members of the group who traveled from Sri Lanka to Australia by boat with his friend’s trawler. Credit: Pradeep Dambarage
His voyage is the subject of an investigation by the new Labor government, which is investigating the timing and circumstances of a controversial Border Force statement that almost immediately made public the capture of his ship on May 21 following the instructions of the then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office. .
The announcement was an apparent deviation from a Border Force policy not to comment on ongoing operations and was taken advantage of by the Liberal Party, which bombarded voters in marginal seats with text messages, urging them to “keep our secure borders by voting liberal today. ” .
Warnakulasuriya Iresha Dulanjal Fernando, wife of the detained landlord, and his daughter Leeza. Credit: Pradeep Dambarage
All friends and family between the ages of 20 and 30, the fishermen had tried to travel to Australia to escape the hardships of a paralyzing economic crisis in Sri Lanka that has brought the island nation of 22 million to its knees.
Now, back in the coastal town of Negombo, after being deported by air from Christmas Island on May 24, those on the boat said they did not know they were being used as a political pawn on the day of the elections.
Barely able to put food on the table for their families as the bankrupt Sri Lankan nation faces critical shortages of food, fuel, medicine and high prices, they said they had left the coastal city western Kalpitiya before dawn on May 2nd. of pure despair.
A photo of the trawler that was intercepted by the Border Force west of Christmas Island on the morning of the federal election.
They did not pay the smugglers, they said, but they themselves arranged the trip on a ship that one of them owned. The elections in Australia were the last thing they thought of.
“How could we predict the day? We just wanted to save our lives and get to shore,” said Pathmanathan, a father of two. “It simply came to our notice then. We didn’t know how long it would take to get to Australia. “
His testimony refutes a theory that the Australian and Sri Lankan authorities may have colluded with to arrange for the trawler to appear near Christmas Island just hours before the Australians cast their ballots.
“It simply came to our notice then. We didn’t know how long it would take to get to Australia. “
Pathmanathan Anthony Pradeep
The fishermen believed that Australia would accept them despite the Australian government’s policy of returning vessels under Operation Sovereign Borders.
“People used to go to Australia and be accepted, that’s why we chose Australia,” said Warnakulasuriya Meril Christopher, 39, a father of three who borrowed 150,000 rupees ($ 578) to pay his share for fuel. and ship supplies.
“We thought that because the Australians knew we were going through a huge hardship here, that people didn’t have any more food to eat, that they would accept us. “My main goal was to bring my children to life. We didn’t think the Australian government would send us back like that.”
Warnakulasuriya Meril Christopher, father of three children, with one of his children. Credit: Pradeep Dambarage
A decade ago, before Australia began its policy of returning ships, up to 120 ships a year ventured from Sri Lanka to Australia as people tried to escape the civil war between the military and the separatists. Tamils and the continued persecution of Tamils after the end of the conflict. in 2009.
Now, as the economy of South Asian democracy collapses, fueling growing anger against the long-ruled Rajapaksa clan, Sri Lankans are being pushed back to the limit. In early May, the Sri Lankan Navy arrested 54 people who had embarked from the northeastern city of Mullaitivu and were en route to Australia. Another ship bound for Australia was stopped in Sri Lankan waters on May 18, with 67 passengers and crew arrested, including five suspected of being involved in human trafficking.
Most of the men on the boat who arrived near Christmas Island are fishermen, but Sri Lanka has run out of fuel over the past month. Most of the drags have not been able to go out to sea and the work they had has dried up.
Yenuki Shenaya Bandara (left), who is six months pregnant, and her husband Araganthan Pradeep (right) who was on the boat. Credit: Pradeep Dambarage
Araganthan Pradeep, a 29-year-old who dries fish for a living, chose to leave even though his wife Yenuki Shenaya Bandara was six months pregnant with her first child.
“I vomited from start to finish and couldn’t eat anything for the last three days, so I vomited blood,” he said. “I went because I wanted to do the right thing with my wife and my unborn child. I was afraid to leave her, but I thought that if I stayed, the situation here would be so bad that I couldn’t take care of her or of the child in the future “.
His wife, 28, said: “When I go to the doctor, I have to spend a lot of money on my appointments. He’s my first child after four years of marriage, so I let him go so he could make a path for us. “
Sri Lankan police bring ashore a group of people trying to travel to Australia on another boat before the election. Credit: AP
On board, they struggled for two days to repair the ship’s engine and only managed to fix a dangerous oil leak when they discovered an old roll of double-sided tape. They were soaked most of the time, they said, as they piled up in the front of the trawler to keep it from tipping over.
One of the youngest on board, Warnakulasuriya Julian Priyanshan Fernando, 21, an unemployed sound engineer, pledged his family’s jewelry, with his permission, in the afternoon before leaving to donate Rs 200,000 ( $ 777). towards the journey.
“We had this idea in our heads for a while, but we didn’t intend to put it into practice,” he said. “The real thing happened very suddenly. I went to pawn the jewelry that afternoon and the next morning at 4 in the morning we left.”
He had been working as a cashier at a mobile phone shop, but with the skyrocketing costs in Sri Lanka, the 20,000 rupees ($ 77) a month he earned was not much.
“As I go to Sri Lanka now, I can’t live on the salary I receive and it is not enough to take care of my parents,” he said. “The money was good for a week or two, but that’s it. My father is a fisherman but there is no fuel, so he has a hard time going to work.
“Even though we are surviving this situation, we are not sure what will happen in a month or two. We don’t know if what we gain will be enough for even a week.”
When they learned they would be taken home, “we wanted to cry because we had suffered so much,” Julian said.
Warnakulasuriya Julian Priyanshan Fernando (center) with his parents Emmanuel Anandan Fernando and Warnakulasuriya Mallika Rojini Fernando at his home in Negombo. Credit: Pradeep Dambarage
The group said Australian officials were very polite and treated the men well, giving them food and drink when they were transported to a Border Force ship, where they spent three days before receiving life jackets. taken by boat to Christmas Island and deported.
They were not allowed, however, to call their relatives home to tell them they were alive, they said.
“All the mothers were terrified because they went to the wind station, the monsoon season,” said Warnakulasuriya Mallika Rojini Fernando, Julian’s mother. “There was no phone contact once they left, so there was no way to contact them.”
Trawlers anchored in Negombo. Fishermen, intercepted west of Christmas Island on election day, traveled in a similar boat. Credit: Pradeep Dambarage
In a statement on Wednesday evening, the Border Force said it had not commented on operational issues “that could reveal tactics, techniques and procedures to organized criminals and human traffickers it seeks to deter.”
“The top priority for all agencies involved in Operation Sovereign Borders is the safety and well-being of all people, including possible unauthorized maritime arrivals, ship’s crews and Australian personnel,” a spokesman said.
“The Australian government is serious about protecting Australia’s borders, combating human trafficking and preventing vulnerable people from risking their lives at sea. That will not change.”
The Sri Lankan Navy and Ministry of Defense were also contacted for comments.
Warnakulasuriya Iresha Dulanjal Fernando. Credit: Pradeep Dambarage
Negombo’s men are safe now, but with rising legal fees and in court accused of illegally traveling to Australia by sea, they are in a worse position than before.
The owner and skipper of the ship, Warnakulasuriya Nishantha Thamel, 30, is still detained in Sri Lanka and has lost his trawler, which was destroyed by the Border Force.
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“I don’t have much hope,” said his wife Warnakulasuriya Iresha Dulanjal Fernando, 27, struggling with tears as he held on to his two-year-old daughter, Leeza.
“It simply came to our notice then. My…