Updated on
Summary
At least 37 people are feared to have drowned after a boat carrying suspected asylum seekers crashed into rocks on Australia's Christmas Island. Pictures from the scene showed the boat, believed to be carrying Iranians and Iraqis, smashed to pieces. Witnesses said they could do little to help as the seas were too rough to approach the vessel. The boat appeared to be trying to land at Christmas Island, where Australia has an immigration detention centre. Rescue efforts were under way and officials declined to give any immediate confirmation of casualties or deaths in the accident. The boat crashed into jagged rocks on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean where refugee hopefuls are housed in a detention center. It appeared the boat had crashed into a rocky area as it was attempting to land at a cove, he said. The Australian Federal Police would say only that they were responding to a maritime incident involving a suspected illegal vessel on the island. The department declined to comment further.
