NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA, August 11, 2016 (CBC): There were hugs and tears Thursday in Admiral’s Beach as a group of former Tamil refugees, who were found adrift in St. Mary’s Bay 30 years ago, returned to the area to be reunited with their rescuers. The drama — then and now — is being made into a film by documentary maker Cyrus Sundar Singh, who accompanied former refugees and their families to Newfoundland.
The return journey started in Holyrood, where the group saw the lifeboats that brought them to the province on Aug. 11, 1986, a sight that was overwhelming for some. Four of the Sri Lankans visiting Thursday were among 155 Tamils found adrift near St. Shott’s by a local skipper, Gus Dalton. The “boat people” had sought freedom from Lanka’s civil war on a cargo ship that dumped them about 186 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, and by the time Dalton’s crew discovered them three days later, they were dehydrated and starving. It was Dalton they most wanted to see Thursday, and they and assorted family and friends crammed into his Admiral’s Beach home to pay homage. Dalton’s and other fishing boats in the area dumped their catches in the ocean to make room for the refugees and bring them to shore.
Dalton, who’s getting on in years and has difficulty talking, was happy to see the Sri Lankans. “I’m glad they come,” he said. Most of the Sri Lankans settled in Montreal and Toronto. The group that returned to St. Mary’s Bay on Thursday said one of the four children rescued, who was six months old at the time, is now a doctor. Another is an engineer.