Inquest hears of Australia asylum seeker anguish

SYDNEY (AAP) - May 23 - Customs officers have described the anguish of asylum seekers pleading for infants to be rescued after their boat crashed into rocks on Christmas Island.
Maritime enforcement officer Michael Burgess told a coronial inquest in Perth on Monday how he tried to save people in the water after the boat, known as SIEV 221, smashed into Rocky Point on December 15 last year.
West Australian Coroner Alastair Hope is conducting the inquest into the tragedy which resulted in the deaths of 30 people from Iraq and Iran, and the likely deaths of 20 more people.
Mr Burgess was coxswain of one of two fast boats, dispatched from the customs vessel Triton, that had to steer through five- to six-metre swells in high winds and rain to pick up survivors being washed against the cliffs.
He said that after rescuing two men, he saw a man and a woman clinging to each other in the water and had to manoeuvre around the bodies of several adults and a small child to get to them.
After the pair were hauled aboard, he said, the woman grabbed at his jacket and cried out: "My babies, my babies".
Mr Burgess said he replied: "I will do my best," and told the woman to make sure she held on as the rescue effort continued.
Troy Daniels, coxswain of the second customs rescue boat, told the inquest his crew spotted two men in the water holding onto a board with a baby on it.
"I think they were yelling `Child!' and pointing to the baby."
Mr Daniels said it was dangerous to go too close to the cliffs so, from a distance of about 15 metres, a line was thrown to one man who was then hauled aboard exhausted.
After that rescue, he saw the board the men had been clinging to had smashed against the rocks and the second man and the infant could no longer be seen.
The rescue boat continued to pick up exhausted survivors, most of them covered in blood, some naked and others with their clothes in tatters, Mr Daniels said.
He said that after a further search of the debris trail failed to find any survivors, the crew began picking up bodies, including those of infants as young as six months.
Two navy fast boats from HMAS Pirie joined the rescue effort, but both customs and navy rescuers were hampered by debris blocking the intakes of the boats' jet engines, the inquest heard.
Mr Burgess said that when his boat lost power, he returned to Triton so pieces of tarpaulin could be removed from the jet unit before resuming searching for survivors.
Marion Grant, the deputy chief executive officer of customs and border protection, told the inquest aerial surveillance north of Christmas Island had been stepped up since the tragedy.
She said the priority was to prevent asylum seekers making it to the mainland, with less attention paid to islands that had been excised for migration purposes in 2001 under the Howard government.
Asylum seekers arriving in excised areas have no right to apply for a visa.
Ms Grant also said that a trial of a radar system for Christmas Island, proposed before the boat tragedy, was now running after delays in gaining shire approvals and shipping equipment.
The system's aim was to pick up small wooden boats in bad weather, but tests in recent months had not been fully successful and alternative equipment might need to be trialled, Ms Grant said.