Desperate Measures and Canadian Government

: But he said dying at sea was worth the risk for a shot at freedom, and it the same chance that migrants heading from Africa to Europe are taking. "I feel very strongly that the world has to open its eyes and prevent all these atrocities that are being committed by various countries so that there is no necessity for people to leave their countries, to take desperate measures to go elsewhere." The man, dubbed B188 in Canadian government documents, said through a Tamil translator that he paid a smuggler in Thailand to travel with a group on two boats before they were transferred to the MV Sun Sea, which was already in international waters, according to Guelph Mercury. The ship with 380 men, 63 women — four of whom were pregnant — and 49 children was intercepted on the coast of B.C. in August 2010. Nearly five years after the MV Sun Sea arrived on British Columbia coast, the refugee claimant said he understands the plight of an estimated 1,700 migrants who have died in the Mediterranean Sea since April 13. "I am extremely sorry to find that they had to die as a result of escaping from danger," said the man in his 30s, whose identity is protected by a publication ban. It followed the arrival of another ship, the MV Ocean Lady, in October 2009, with 76 Tamil migrants on board. One man named Nesan died from dehydration and starvation, and the passengers held a funeral before his body was weighed down with engine parts and thrown overboard, he said. "Hardly anybody cried. He said there were two toilets on the Sun Sea and that he would awake at 4 a.m. to avoid the lineups because he had trouble standing due to chest injuries he'd suffered in the Sri Lankan civil war during a bombing raid, allegedly by security forces. "None of us were allowed to come to the top of the ship because some planes might spot us," he said. "We couldn't even turn around when we were sleeping, there were so many people," he said, adding that during one violent storm, the passengers feared the ship would capsize in the middle of the night and they would all drown. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.