At least 27 people have died in a shipwreck off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia. The victims are thought to be asylum seekers from Iran and Iraq.
A rescue mission in underway and 41 people have been saved, however dangerous conditions are hampering efforts.
“The rescue is being conducted in extremely difficult and dangerous conditions,” the border protection agency said in a statement. ‘”We will continue the search until last light and review the situation and determine what further actions might need to be taken before first light tomorrow.”
The boat was smashed apart on rough seas just off the coast of Easter Island, where Australia has an immigratin detention centre.
According to Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service, many of the victims are women and children.
“Eyewitnesses told us that they saw babies being held in people’s arms and then when the boat was hit by the wave and crashed up against the rocks, they could no longer see those young babies,” said Jessica Campanaro, from Sydney radio station 2GB.
Christmas Island residents said they discovered the shipwreck when they heard screams.
“We threw ropes over the cliffs and we must have thrown in a couple of hundred life-jackets,” one resident told the West Australian newspaper.
“About 15 or 20 people managed to get into the jackets but there are bodies all over the water.
“There are dead babies, dead women and dead children in the water. The swell is unbelievably big.”
Initially, the sea was too rough for rescue workers to get to the victims. “They were waving and shouting and screaming for help,” a witness told Australia’s ABC News.
“They were desperate, by that stage they had been in the water for an hour already.
“They hung on for as long as they possibly could and each one of them was eventually thrown off into the sea on to the rocks.”
Survivors of the shipwreck will be taken to Christmas Island for security, identity and health checks, according to the Customs and Border Protection statement.
Watch ABC’s report of the Christmas Island tragedy here.
