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What’s Your Scariest International Experience?

Mark Cresswell, Rick Antonson, and Paul Welsh on their most unnerving overseas adventures. Mark Cresswell (l), ?anesthetist, Médecins Sans Frontières? “One night in Sri Lanka we were awakened to attend a woman in labour who had spent three hours on the back of a scooter. She was in shock and deteriorating rapidly, so we had to do an emergency C-section. We were greeted by a baby and an enormous gush of blood. In the morning she was still alive and her husband arrived to a very emotional reunion.”  

By BCBusiness /

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Mark Cresswell, Rick Antonson, and Paul Welsh on their most unnerving overseas adventures.

Mark Cresswell (l), 
anesthetist, Médecins Sans Frontières


“One night in Sri Lanka we were awakened to attend a woman in labour who had spent three hours on the back of a scooter. She was in shock and deteriorating rapidly, so we had to do an emergency C-section. We were greeted by a baby and an enormous gush of blood. In the morning she was still alive and her husband arrived to a very emotional reunion.”

Rick Antonson (c), 
president and CEO,
 Tourism Vancouver


“We were delayed a week on a trip in Russia. When we finally got to Moscow to catch a flight to Leningrad we were told that the plane we were to have been on had crashed and some people were killed. I threw away my watch and still don’t wear one because I realized how futile it is to worry about trying to rush everywhere to be on time.”

Paul Welsh, co-general manager, Edelman Vancouver


“In 2006 we were working on B.C. Canada Place in Torino. Three days before opening, I flew in with one of the servers and a whole bunch of operational stuff. I spent six hours in customs with no contact with the outside world and they weren’t going to let any of this equipment go through. It was pretty sketchy before we finally sorted it out.”