Sri Lankan refugee makes journey to thank Croatian captain who saved his life at sea

Eight years on from his miraculous rescue at sea,  a Sri Lankan refugee has made the journey to thank a Croatian captain and crew who plucked him from the Indian Ocean on the way to Australia.

The first time Para Paheer met Nikola Brzica, they were in the middle of the Indian Ocean, 350 nautical miles from the Australian territory of the Cocos Islands and thousands of miles from Para's home in Sri Lanka, Radio Australia reported.

The boat he was on — given the official title of Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel (SIEV) 69 by Australian authorities — had sunk, and Para, who could not swim, was left clinging to debris for more than 10 hours.

Captain Brzica was the captain of the LNG Pioneer, a gas tanker making its journey from a port in south-west India to Withnell Bay in WA's north, when it received a message from rescue authorities in Canberra that there was a boat in distress.

Para, the only one with even a basic grasp of English, had been put forward to make an emergency distress call by the Indian captain of the boat.

The first call was made to the Australian Red Cross, but it went straight through to message bank. The second call was made to the Australian Maritime Rescue Authority's rescue centre in Canberra.

The second call was made to the Australian Maritime Rescue Authority's rescue centre in Canberra. The transcript of the call makes harrowing reading.

"We are coming to Australia and we have [indistinct] days to go," the call said.

"We are in your country, near your country [indistinct] five kilometres away, but we don't have food and we don't have water also — there's a huge hole in the bottom of the boat … Can you help me?"

What followed was a mammoth rescue effort over two days. By the time Para was pulled from the ocean, he had been in the water for more than 10 hours — and at sea for 30 days.

The date was November 2, 2009, and it was his 31st birthday.

During the harrowing rescue and before he was transferred to immigration officials on Christmas Island, Para and Captain Brzica struck up a bond that has lasted for eight years.

Last month Para made an emotional journey to the captain's home country of Croatia to meet him for the first time since he was pulled from the ocean, and thank him for saving his life.

"It is very, very emotional for me to see the men who rescued me … I thank God for that day," he says.

In an email exchange with RN Life Matters, Captain Brzica says he was equally touched by the reunion.

"When Para shook my hand strongly, he started laughing and his eyes were shining — almost to cry[ing]," he writes.

"In that moment I was happy and also proud that I helped one young human being to start a new life."

Penpal helped set up life in Australia

The reunion was arranged by Alison Corke, who as a member of the grassroots movement Rural Australians for Refugees, started writing to Para while he was in detention on Christmas Island.

The letters between the two told of Para's experience during Sri Lanka's civil war — how kidnappings, torture and disappearances were commonplace; how as a Tamil and a student leader, he had become a target; how he had been arrested and beaten; and how on his release he and his wife and baby son had fled to India, before Para tried his luck on a people-smuggling boat to Australia.

It was the start of an enduring friendship, recounted in a book they have written together called The Power of Good People.

Ms Corke later sponsored Para to leave the detention centre and come and live with her family at Apollo Bay, a Victorian town at the foothills of the Otway National Park along the Great Ocean Road.

She recalls in those early years, every letter and every conversation was tinged by his determination to meet and thank the captain and crew for all they had done.

While 27 men and teenagers were rescued that day, 12 others lost their lives — deaths that were not only devastating for Para, but for the crew involved in the rescue effort.

"Captain Brzica is an enormous man with an enormous heart. He instantly recognised Para and he was thrilled," Ms Corke says, of the reunion.

"It was fabulous to see how proud they were to have done a great deed. But at the same time it was tinged with sadness, and that was the nice thing — their humanity and compassion was beyond comparison."