Australia: A Queensland coroner has ruled that the sinking of the 'Malu Sara', an Immigration Department vessel, was a totally avoidable disaster that was a result of official indolence and incompetence.
Immigration officers Wilred Baira, 38; Ted Cyril Harry, 54; and passengers Valerie Saub, 34; Flora Enosa, 34 and her daughter, Ethena Ensoa, 5, were all killed on October 15, 2005 when their boat sank en route between Saibai and Badu islands in the Torres Strait.
"When no help came and the engines failed and water leaked into the supposedly watertight bilge faster than it could be pumped out, it is likely the boat capsized and soon sank," Queensland Coroner Michael Barnes was quoted as saying by The Australian.
According to the paper, the ship's captain, Mr Baira's first distress call was twelve hours before the vessel lost contact. The vessel was then presumably lost in the fog of the early evening.
"The people lost when the 'Malu Sara' sunk didn't die because some unforeseeable, freak accident swept them away before anything could be done to save them. Rather, they died because several people dismally failed to do their duty over many months."
Mr Barnes criticised the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs' regional manager Garry Chaston, saying he had not only failed to tell the builder of the vessel that it would be operating in open waters, but that he also allowed the 'Malu Sara' to depart knowing well that there was heavy weather and that the vessel was taking on water.
