Foreign Correspondence

[fuagf]

Asylum-seeker boat blast: Injured in burns units, cause unknown
By staff writers and wires .. NEWS.com.au
April 17, 2009 12:44pm


Walking wounded ... one of the people injured in yesterday's
blast arrives at Darwin hospital / Picture: Clive Hyde

Pictures: Asylum boat tragedy

Interceptor ... the navy patrol boat HMAS Albany was sent to meet an unidentified
boat off the northwest of WA. Picture: Supplied by Royal Australian Navy


Doomed vessel ... the boat carrying Afghan asylum seekers under escort
to Christmas Island. Picture: Supplied by Border Protection Command


Aftermath ... floating debris after the boat mysteriously
exploded. Picture: Supplied by Border Protection Command


Makeshift floating hospital ... the navy transferred those caught in the
explostion and fire to the floating oil rig Front Puffin. Picture: ABC


Arrived ... an injured asylum seeker disembarks at Darwin airport. Picture: Clive Hyde


Casualty ... one of the injured asylum seekers is taken into a Darwin hospital.
Picture: AFP

http://www.news.com.au/gallery/0,23607,5038488-5007150,00.html#

MORE than 30 asylum-seekers are being treated for serious injuries
in Australian hospitals after their boat exploded off the northwest coast.

Three people were killed and dozens were injured, including three Australian Defence Force personnel, when the asylum-
seekers' boat exploded as it was being escorted to the Christmas Island detention centre yesterday morning.

The cause of the blast remained unclear this morning, with a suggestion it was sabotage not being ruled out.

Emergency flights took 31 of the worst hurt to the remote Truscott air base
- a landing strip roughly halfway between Broome and Darwin - for treatment.

From there, eight people with the most severe injuries were taken to Darwin hospital for emergency treatment.

Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) received four patients at 3.30am (WST) today two of whom went straight into surgery.

Another two patients arrived at RPH at 7.50am, followed by a Hercules plane carrying
16 injured asylum seekers which touched down at Perth International Airport at 9.30am.

Comments:
It saddens me that this is the same country who was so generous to others only two months ago following the
bushfires in Vic. These comments are so full of hatred and stupidity it's an embarrassment. ange of null
(Read More) http://www.news.com.au/comments/0,23600,25345698-2,00.html

The first ambulance carrying patients from the Hercules transport has arrived at the hospital under police escort.

One seriously ill patient remains in Broome hospital being treated by a specialist burns team,
but the WA health department was chartering a jet to transfer the patient to Perth later today.

Two of the original six patients are in the hospital's intensive care unit, with the remaining
four being treated in the burns unit. All of the asylum-seekers have been quarantined.

The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital said it was expecting four patients to arrive tonight for treatment.

The worst of the injured suffered severe burns similar to those
sustained in the first Bali bombing, a Darwin doctor has been reported as saying.

"Now the hard work of our medical and emergency teams begins in earnest," Prime Minister Kevin
Rudd said this morning in his first comments on the blast, more than 24 hours after it happened.

The remaining 13 asylum-seekers were being taken to Darwin on the HMAS Albany. The bodies of
two of those killed were also due there later today. Two others are still missing after the boat sank.

Cause

Investigations are under way into the "manner and cause" of yesterday's explosion. Headed
by Assistant Commissioner Mark McAdie from the Northern Territory's regional crime
service, the task force could lay charges if it finds the explosion or fire was deliberate.

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett said yesterday that the explosion was caused
by petrol, driving speculation that it was an act of sabotage. "What I think is clear is,
the refugees spread petrol on their boat, the vessel they were on," Mr Barnett said.

Mr Barnett said the information had been relayed from the Northern
Command (NORCOM), which included naval and other Defence Force personnel.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the cause would not be confirmed for some time and there should
be no speculation. "Politicians shouldn't be making claims about the things they don't know. I
think it would be wise if everyone stopped pretending they knew," he said on ABC radio this morning.

Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said it the blast might have been caused deliberately. "Of
course it's possible. It's either an accident or it was deliberate. Everybody can see that. The
real question is to determine which was the actual situation," he said on Sky TV this morning.

Border policy

Senator Evans said all would be processed as normal on Christmas
Island once they had been treated and had recovered from their injuries.

The confusion that surrounded the children overboard controversy during the 2001 election was clearly on the minds
of Defence and government officials, who yesterday were reluctant to release information that had not been confirmed.

"I'm not prepared to speculate on the cause of the explosion," head of Border Protection
Command Rear Admiral Allan du Toit said in Canberra more than six hours after the blast.

The vessel, believed to have originated in Indonesia, was
intercepted on Wednesday afternoon two nautical miles off Ashmore Reef.

The boat was the sixth to arrive this year and its passengers are among 455 suspected asylum-seekers since September.

The Opposition said the Government's immigration policies had caused a hike in
arrivals. Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said this in turn was putting more
lives at risk, as more people resorted to dangerous journeys to get to Australia.

"The more boats that come, the more accidents that will arise,
the more lives that will be put at risk," he said on ABC radio.

And he was backed up by former Howard government foreign minister Alexander Downer who
said there was no doubt a relaxation in immigration policy was increasing people smuggling. ..

- with AAP

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25345698-2,00.html