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Death toll from boat wreck still unknown
Source: Agencies |
December 18, 2010, Saturday
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THE number of people killed when a boat carrying asylum seekers sank off a remote Australian island may never be known, officials said yesterday, as the passenger total was uncertain and some bodies may never be recovered.
The known toll increased to 30 after two more bodies were found off Christmas Island where the wooden vessel broke apart on Wednesday.
Up to 100 people were believed to be aboard, but investigators have so far been unable to get a firm number and may never do so, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.
Forty-two people were rescued soon after the crash. The bodies recovered included a man and a boy aged about 11 found by divers on Thursday near the submerged wreck.
"We do need to face the grim reality that it is becoming increasingly unlikely and an increasingly remote possibility that survivors will be found at this stage," Gillard told reporters.
The survivors comprise 25 men, eight women and nine children. Most are in hospitals, and the others were taken to an immigration detention center on the island.
Three of the survivors are Indonesians, who are suspected people smugglers and are being interviewed by police.
The known toll increased to 30 after two more bodies were found off Christmas Island where the wooden vessel broke apart on Wednesday.
Up to 100 people were believed to be aboard, but investigators have so far been unable to get a firm number and may never do so, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.
Forty-two people were rescued soon after the crash. The bodies recovered included a man and a boy aged about 11 found by divers on Thursday near the submerged wreck.
"We do need to face the grim reality that it is becoming increasingly unlikely and an increasingly remote possibility that survivors will be found at this stage," Gillard told reporters.
The survivors comprise 25 men, eight women and nine children. Most are in hospitals, and the others were taken to an immigration detention center on the island.
Three of the survivors are Indonesians, who are suspected people smugglers and are being interviewed by police.
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