A horrific story from Australia’s Christmas Island where a boat carrying asylum-seekers believed to be from Iraq and Iran broke up in rough after striking rocks offshore. Forty two people were been rescued and twenty seven have been confirmed dead, though that number may rise. Some reports suggest that as many as fifty people may have died.
Refugee boat tragedy on Australian island
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As reported by the Los Angeles Times:
Shortly after dawn Wednesday, residents of an isolated Australian island community heard the screams of children just offshore.
One by one, the inhabitants of tiny Christmas Island ran to the water’s edge to find scores of asylum-seekers — their wooden boat dashed against razor-sharp rocks — being tossed about by seas one onlooker likened to “an open washing machine.”
Late Wednesday, officials were still searching for survivors and tallying the mounting deaths. An estimated 50 people were presumed dead with 40 others rescued from a boat thought to be carrying at least 90 passengers.
Christmas Island, a phosphate mining center about 1,600 miles northwest of Perth, is home to Australia’s main offshore immigration detention center. The island has about 1,400 residents, most of them living near the community of Flying Fish Cove.
The refugee issue has divided Australia and played a role in recent parliamentary elections, where one conservative candidate campaigned on a platform to “stop the boats.” As many as 6,000 undocumented boat refugees arrive in the country each year.
Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the story along.
One oddity here is how far the refugees appear to have come if their origin is really Iran and/or Iraq (countries that are not on good terms, so it’s another question how refugees from both of them could have gotten together). Looking at the map in the link it must be way over 1000 miles — surely there must have been a nearer destination that was “almost” as good (assuming they were going to Australia).
Whilst it is sad that so many children lost there lives in this incedent the politicians gain momentum from scoring political points on the back of people loosing their lives.
It is no ones fault that this tragedy happened these people had taken a risk in there every day life only this turned in to a tragedy we all take risks in every day life as far as the protests go with the asylum seekers the priminister should grow a backbone and act acordingly send the bastards back to where they come from it costs the australian people enough looking after the majority of the aboriginal population with out being forced to have more free loaders on our social welfare payments. we cant even look after our own pensioners most of whom worked and fought for this country yet these type of blisters on society get every thing given to them my vote goes back to pauline hanson and her one nation propasal i worked for a union for a very long time and supported the labour movement and goverment but not any more they the two major parties are just blisters on the back of the real australian people
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