Trapped tourists tell of struggle to survive

At least these people could

come home, Never Never

forget, Can you believe this

in your wildest imagination

By Lisa Pryor, Lee Glendinning and Samantha Selinger-Morris
September 5, 2005

When Vanessa Cullington got through to the Australian embassy after two days trapped in the New Orleans Superdome, she thought she had finally found help. She was wrong.

Crying and screaming over a mobile phone, she explained to an Australian official the dangers she was facing, along with eight other Australians who had huddled together for protection.

Women among their group had been harassed and grabbed by marauding men. Faeces lined the toilet walls. There had been suicides, rapes and murders. It was "like being in a Third World country, in a maximum security prison", Ms Cullington said.

"We said we just need a car, we need something, we need some form of transport. They said 'We can't do that, we're in Washington DC'."

As if unaware of the chaos that had engulfed the city, the official asked her: "Have you gone to the airport and checked if there are any flights leaving? Have you called Amtrak and asked if there's any trains?"

"If you are in the Superdome, you are safe," she was told.

It was another four days before Ms Cullington, 22, of Castlecrag, spoke to another Australian official. This time round, the official offered help. But by then the group of nine were safe in Dallas, having saved themselves.

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