— A refugee boat (top) with no power is lifted high up over the rocks at Christmas Island. Seconds later, the ocean level drops and the boat is smashed against the rocks. The boat then quickly sinks (center), leaving dazed passengers and debris in the water (bottom). Further waves threw many of those in the water to their deaths on the rocks.
An unknown number of Iranians fleeing the Is-
lamic Republic were killed last Wednesday when a frail wooden boat taking them to Australia was smashed on an island’s rocks in a storm and broken into pieces.
The Australian government said the boat was carrying Iranian, Iraqi and Kurdish refugees. It has announced that 42 people on the boat were rescued and that 30 bodies have been recovered. Based on interviews with those rescued, Australia believes about 18 others died.
But Australia has not released the nationalities of the living or the dead dead.
It has said the one eight-year boy who was rescued and who lost both his parents in the sinking is Iranian.
The Australian government said the boat trip was organized by an Iranian people smuggler in Indonesia. Australia is seeking to extradite the Iranian from Indonesia for trial.
The passengers reportedly paid about $7,000 to be taken to Australia, hoping they would be accepted as refugees there. But the Australian government is hostile to such boatloads of people and keeps them in detention centers for long periods.
The boat was sailing from Indonesia to Christmas Island, which is Australian territory but is much closer to Indonesia than to the mainland of Australia.
The boat sailed despite a cyclone in the area. As the boat approached Christmas Island, which is the top of an old volcano, the cyclone was whipping up tall waves. For some unexplained reason, the boat approached the island. Some reports said its engine had been shut off and it was being pushed toward the island by the waves and winds.
A resident of the island videotaped the boat. At one point a giant swell comes in and lifts the boat up high over the rocks. As the swell retreats, the boat is smashed upon the rocks. It quickly breaks up and sinks, leaving men, women, children and infants floundering in the water. Island residents reported horrifying screams with some of the people being pulled under and drowned while others were smashed upon the rocks by the waves.
Residents could not safely approach the water but gathered life preservers and tried to throw them to the people in the water. The wind blew some of the life preservers back onto the island. Residents reported seeing some of refugees clinging to wreckage and trying to reach out to life preservers, but presumably not knowing how to swim to reach preservers that were sometimes just a few feet beyond their reach.
The police said the 30 bodies recovered include 11 adult men, 11 adult women, three boys, two girls, one male and two female infants. The police said 14 had been identified but they did not reveal names or nationalities, except to mention the eight-year-old Iranian orphan. Police said they were trying to reach his extended family in Iran. The authorities said the other surviving children all had at least one parent surviving with them.
Last year, only 72 Iranians arrived in Australia on the rickety boats. So far this year, 700 Iranians have arrived by boat, not counting last week’s ill-fated voyage.