Yesterday's disaster unfolds tragically close to land, as a boat carrying asylum-seekers founders on rocks at Christmas Island. Picture: Jon Faulkner Source: The Australian
UP to 50 asylum-seekers are feared drowned after their boat was smashed on to cliffs at Christmas Island.
Authorities believe the boat was in a desperate, night-time dash for safety.
As rescuers last night continued to scour the ocean for survivors after the worst known loss of asylum-seekers' lives at sea since the SIEV X tragedy in October 2001, sources told The Australian it appeared the boat's attempts to reach the island's only safe harbour in mountainous seas tragically helped them avoid detection.
The first authorities knew of the wooden fishing boat was when it appeared out of the pre-dawn darkness.
Officials told The Australian the Indonesian boat, believed to be carrying about 70 Iraqi and Iranian asylum-seekers, was not under constant surveillance, although it may have been detected earlier on its journey. They said it appeared the boat tried to make it to Flying Fish Cove overnight, meaning it was harder to detect for the regular navy and Customs patrols.
Sources said the boat's dawn arrival was a "huge surprise" to authorities, with the navy and Customs vessels forced to go to the lee side of the island.
As soon as the danger to the vessel became apparent, the navy patrol boat HMAS Pirie and the Customs vessel Triton launched fast, rigid inflatable boats. But they had to travel several kilometres through 5m seas before reaching the stricken vessel and pulling survivors from the water.
Locals at the scene said a navy vessel took between 30 and 45 minutes to reach the boat. By that time, it had been ripped apart after crashing into the cliff face.
Harbour master Dave Robertson says the navy and Customs acted swiftly and heroically in manouevring their inflatable boats in dangerous conditions. "What the navy and Customs did to save that many people in those conditions is extraordinary. Those coxman are heroes," he said.
Customs and Border Protection said last night 27 bodies had been pulled from the water and 41 people had been rescued after the boat disintegrated when it was pounded into the rocks adjacent to the Flying Fish Cove harbour about 6am (10am ADST).
One person made it to shore, and was helped from the sea by locals.
"The rescue is being conducted in extremely difficult and dangerous conditions," Customs said last night.
A spokeswoman for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Joeley Pettit-Scott, said her organisation had been told about 50 people had died: "That's the figure reported to us by the authorities we're liaising with on Christmas Island."
Initial reports said about 70 asylum-seekers were on the boat, but the confirmed death toll together with the number of people rescued suggests the actual figure could be higher, with families reported among the passengers.
Earlier, locals on Christmas Island watched on helplessly as the 16m wooden fishing vessel drifted closer to the jagged limestone cliffs, as it was pummelled by huge swells. Witnesses reporting seeing children as young as three being tossed into the raging ocean.
One local, who did not want to be named, said he rushed to the cliffs after hearing the screams, along with his 20-year-old son and as many life jackets as they could muster. They tied life jackets to ropes and threw the ropes to the terrified asylum-seekers.
"It was horrendous - we were pulling the ropes up and then it would go limp. Unbelievable horror," he said.
Locals rushed to assist in the rescue, throwing in ropes and life jackets, but were held back by high seas and the treacherous cliffs that ring the island. As small navy inflatable boats tried to pull survivors from the ocean, witnesses said those in the water risked being dashed against the rocks or battered by wooden debris.
Allison Millcock, a contractor with the Shire of Christmas Island, last night said the navy was trying to bring survivors 6km around the other side of the island to calmer waters at Lilly Beach. She vented her fury at the people-smugglers. "It's bloody carnage. It's a human tragedy and these bastards who are bringing these boatpeople should be shot - they're criminals - they are absolute criminals."
Yesterday afternoon, two inflatable navy boats took injured asylum-seekers ashore at Ethel Beach, also on the lee side of the island, where tents had been set up for triage.
One Christmas Island volunteer said it was heart-wrenching to treat children who had lost family members. "They're asking, where's my parents, my sister or my brother?" she said. A mother whose baby had perished was inconsolable.
Jamal Daoud, the spokesman for the Social Justice Network, said asylum-seekers in Christmas Island detention centre were asking why the navy and Customs did not spot the boat earlier.
A local resident last night said the island's lack of emergency planning for such a tragedy was "blatantly obvious" yesterday.
He said there was no contingency plans in place for an event that was foreseeable due to the island's rough weather conditions and rocky coast.
Yesterday's tragedy occurred less than 24 hours after Customs and Border Protection detected a second boat northwest of Rocky Point, the scene of yesterday's disaster. That boat was carrying eight passengers and three crew.
The tragedy prompted Julia Gillard to cut short her Christmas holidays in Melbourne and return to Sydney.
"This has been a tragic event, and it will be some time before there is a full picture of what has happened," the Prime Minister's office said. "The government's focus and absolute priority is on rescue, recovery and treatment of those injured." Acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan refused to say whether authorities knew of the boat, which reached Christmas Island from Indonesia.
"I can't go into all of that detail," he said in Sydney. "I don't have a clear picture at the moment."
He warned it would be "some time" before authorities could piece together the circumstances of the accident.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor travelled to the island yesterday to debrief with local volunteers who took part in the search and rescue operation.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said he had offered the federal government assistance in the rescue and recovery operation.
"The Royal Flying Doctor Service has been deployed to the area and our hospitals are on alert to receive injured patients," Mr Barnett said.
A Royal Flying Doctor plane carrying two medical teams left Perth yesterday and was due to arrive on Christmas Island late in the afternoon. Ms Pettit-Scott, said the teams would accompany three asylum-seekers, two with head injuries and one with abdominal injuries, back to Perth for treatment. Most of the injured had suffered bruising or abrasions, she said. A disaster victim identification team made up of forensic pathologists, West Australian police and federal police officers left for Christmas Island last night.
They will investigate for the West Australian coroner, who has jurisdiction over the island. Bodies of those who did not survive will be taken to Perth.
A spokeswoman for state Coroner Alastair Hope said a decision was yet to be made on whether to hold an inquest.
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison expressed his sympathy for the families of those lost. He stopped short of assigning blame for the disaster but said the tragedy "represents our worst fears realised".
The sinking follows a year of record boat arrivals, with 130 asylum boats carrying about 6300 passengers reaching Australia. The wave of asylum boats, which began in late 2008, has resulted in dozens of confirmed deaths at sea.
In April last year, five Afghan asylum-seekers died when the boat they were on blew up as navy personnel were boarding it.
The explosion was deliberately triggered after passengers on board became fearful they were to be turned back to sea.
In November last year, 12 Sri Lankans were lost when their boat foundered 650km northwest of Cocos Island en route from Sri Lanka. In May, five Sri Lankan asylum-seekers disappeared after they left their vessel in inner-tubes in an apparent attempt to get help after their boat reportedly ran out of food, fuel and water.
Other boats have simply disappeared after putting in at Indonesia, suggesting the true death toll will never be known.
The scale of yesterday's disaster is reminiscent of the SIEV X incident, which cost 353 asylum-seekers' lives when their boat sank off Indonesia in October 2001.
The government has previously been criticised for poor emergency planning on Christmas Island, with local authorities not even warned when boats were en route to Flying Fish Cove. A January report by consultancy Parsons Brinckerhoff, commissioned by the Attorney-General's Department, found emergency management was haphazard.
"Some key island stakeholders such as medical, transport and port authority staff are not informed of the arrival of a vessel until the last possible moment," the report said.
A government spokesman last night insisted emergency services were routinely notified of pending arrivals, but it remained unclear whether Customs and Border Protection knew this vessel was en route and whether local authorities were warned.
Additional reporting: Tony Barrass, Debbie Guest, Sean Parnell , Mark Dodd, Peter Alford
An information phone line has been established for people who may have known someone on board the boat or are trying to contact friends. They can call 1300 724 010.
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