Up to 50 refugees drown off Christmas Island

[Hannah Bell]

Christmas Island residents awoke to the sound of the refugees’ screams when the boat was still afloat near high and jagged limestone cliffs at Flying Fish Cove. Mick Tassone told the West Australian newspaper that he was getting ready for work at about 5 a.m. when he saw the boat “lurching” past in a swirling 3 to 4 metre swell.

“They were waving their arms and yelling ‘Australia, Australia, help, help, help’,” he said. Tassone said it seemed the boat’s engine was not running and that there was a large quantity of diesel in the water. Other residents reported seeing women desperately holding their babies in the air as they pleaded for assistance.

Sometime later—an hour or longer according to different reports—the boat capsized and disintegrated as a giant wave thrust it into a cliff face. Christmas Island is a submarine mountain peak and has no reef or other natural barriers.

Dozens of Christmas Island residents bravely attempted to rescue the asylum seekers, throwing life jackets and lowering ropes and ladders into the water. Some formed human chains in a desperate effort to pull those drowning out of the water, and later required medical attention after suffering cuts on the jagged rocks.

Of those on the boat that broke up yesterday, 28 mostly Iraqi and Iranian asylum seekers are confirmed dead, including women and small children. Forty-four people were rescued, 11 of them reportedly children, while an unknown number remain missing.

Many questions remain outstanding about the authorities’ rescue response. According to official statements, two Australian ships were in the area at the time of the disaster, the Navy’s HMAS Pirie and Customs ship ACV Triton. Both vessels had picked up other refugee boats in previous days. It is unclear why neither attempted to rescue the refugees in the time between the first sighting of the disabled boat by residents and its smashing against the cliffs about an hour later.

According to some reports, the refugee boat was being “tracked” by HMAS Pirie just before it sank. Yet small rubber Navy and Customs vessels were deployed only after the passengers were already in the water.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/refu-d16.shtml

[hlthe2b]

1. Well that just makes you cry...

How tragic. Bless the locals for doing what they could.

[Hannah Bell]

2. refugees from our wars: the war on iraq & the war on iran.

[sabrina 1]

3. Yes, it seems that way. And we don't know how many others

have fled those brutal wars. We do know that the wars have created millions of refugees.

And the war criminals wine and dine on their blood money, while people like Manning and Julian Assange who tried to expose the horrors and the crimes are in jail. The world is upside down.

[canetoad]

4. Terrible tragedy

In the name of truthiness:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/doomed-asylum-seekers-boat-not-being-tracked-by-customs-minister-20101215-18ya5.html

Doomed asylum seekers' boat not being tracked by Customs: minister

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor, speaking from Christmas Island today , has confirmed the asylum boat that crashed was not being tracked by Customs.

He said extraordinarily bad weather had led to very low visibility, and a wooden vessel made radar detection "nigh on impossible".

[malaise]

5. BBC had video

It was really hard to watch. Still many people risked their lives to save those who survived.