Rough seas hamper search for more victims from asylum-seeker boat at Christmas Island
- The Australian
- December 16, 2010
An injured woman from the Christmas Island boat wreck arrives at Perth airport. Picture: Getty Images Source: Getty Images
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ROUGH seas are hampering the search for more survivors or victims from the boat carrying up to 100 asylum-seekers which smashed on cliffs at Christmas Island.
At least 28 people, including woman and children, died when their wooden vessel crashed on to rocks in treacherous conditions near Flying Fish Cove yesterday, the government confirmed today.
There are 44 confirmed survivors, including 11 children, authorities said.
However the federal government says up to 100 people could have been aboard the boat.
Two of the most badly injured, two women in their 20s, were this morning flown to Perth on a Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft, authorities said.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the seas remained treacherous but authorities would be doing their best to find any survivors.
He said it was still not clear how many people were on the boat.
``But we really don't know and we probably never will.''“People who have survived say there were between 70 and 100,” Mr Bowen told Melbourne MTR on Thursday.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor also said authorities did not yet know how many people were still missing after the worst known loss of asylum-seekers' lives at sea since the SIEV X tragedy in October 2001.
“The search will continue at first light. We'll have to continue the search before we can determine precisely the number (on board),” he told ABC radio.
Mr O'Connor said a number of women and children were on the boat when it sank and some children had died.
“It's clearly a tragic situation for the victims, the victims' families and the people of Christmas Island,” he said.
Mr O'Connor said some of the people on the boat were from Iraq and survivors were being interviewed.
A temporary mortuary had been established on the island.
Six survivors had been taken to hospital, while the others had been taken to the Christmas Island detention centre, Mr O'Connor said.
Two women flown to Perth for urgent treatment today were in a serious but stable condition.
One had abdominal injuries and the other pulmonary problems, probably from inhaling diesel in the water as asylum-seekers were thrown into the ocean, the RFDS said.
RFDS medical director Stephen Langford said some of the survivors at Christmas Island could require extra medical care in Perth.
“They (Christmas Island) don't have a surgical capacity,” he told ABC Television, noting that “half a dozen” patients had “minor traumatic” injuries.
“There are ones that may need some tertiary level care,” he said, adding they could be sent to Perth on a routine flight.
“Or they may be treated on the island.”
Additional federal and West Australian police were due to arrive on the island by plane today. A disaster victim identification unit was also en route.
“There will also be people authorised to inquire on behalf of the West Australian coroner, so that will commence quite quickly as well,” Mr O'Connor said.
The minister praised the efforts of locals in mounting a “magnificent” rescue operation on Wednesday.
“Their dedication and effort and bravery have meant that lives have been saved.”
Julia Gillard has returned from holidays following the tragedy and was briefed overnight.
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 , 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 had tried to make it to Flying Fish Cove during the night, 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.
A spokeswoman for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Joeley Pettit-Scott, said her organisation had been told up to 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.”
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.
The tragedy prompted Ms 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.”
Additional reporting: AAP (the australian)
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