SIEVX: Gov't still says tragedy position 'unknown'

"In June this year, soon after the trial of convicted people smuggler Khaleed Daoed concluded, two Government Ministers (Senators Ellison and Vanstone) independently released statements that included reference to SIEVX having sunk in 'international waters'. These statements were at odds with the Defence Internal Review of Intelligence pertaining to SIEVX provided to the CMI Committee and with the findings of the CMI Report (see paras 8.5 & 8.144). They also contradicted John Howard's oft repeated refrain throughout the 2001 Federal election campaign that the boat had sunk in 'Indonesian waters' (see p.2 & endnote #8).

"This seeming about face by Ellison and Vanstone caused some commentators (1, 2, 3) to conclude that the Government had officially changed its line on this issue. However, this is not the case ... [a large part of Marg Hutton's article not included here for space reasons, but well worth reading -- PW] ...

"The SIEVX survivors have consistently claimed that there was a ship or ships in their vicinity on the evening that their boat sank. This radar contact at 1930 fits with this information and what is more, it also fits with the 0919 contact from the morning flight. If 0919 is SIEVX then it appears that it would not have travelled very far into the area depicted by the white square by 3.10pm, the time of the sinking. Similarly, 4 hours after the sinking, if the boat had sunk close to the edge of the white square, then you would expect that the survivors would have drifted to a similar position within the pink square, four hours later, which would put them close to the 1930 radar contact.

"It is also worth noting that the ship or boat seen at 1930 could have moved closer to the survivors - the point plotted on the surveillance map is not necessarily the closest point that that boat/ship came to the area represented by the pink square that evening ...

"So it is apparent that there is data within the Government's own surveillance maps that supports the sinking location derived from the Jakarta Harbourmaster's report. We know where SIEVX was rescued. An expert in Oceanography has assessed how far the boat drifted from the sinking site while the survivors were in the water. The map above is based on this data and is the best information we have on the probable sinking location.

"When is the government going to come clean and admit the blindingly obvious - that SIEVX sank in international waters inside our border protection surveillance zone?"
sievx.com

"SIEV-X stands for Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel X (the X means 'unknown'). It is the name ... commonly used to refer to a dilapidated Indonesian fishing boat that was en-route to Christmas Island carrying over 400 asylum seekers. It sank in October 2001, killing 353 people, mostly women and children." Wikipedia

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