Deathscapes

A Boat Called the Janga 1l - The Inquest

Deathscapes

The Inquest

Front page of the Coroners finding in the Inquest into the 30 deaths of people who drowned on the Janga. Included here are the names: Fatemah Baghaie, Khedier Eidan Madhi, Khoshqhadam Amini, Hassan Shahvari, Ali Khedier Eidan, Afssaneh Abdullahi-Meher, Haifa Bawy, Mehran Zareh, Fawzeya Bawy, Fatemah Tayari, Mahan Shahvari, Shekooh Taromi Nejad Sheerazy, Mariam Shahvari, Ahmed Oday Al Khafaji, Nasrollah Akbari, Mariam Fakri Kadum Al Khafaji, Maryam Zareh, Elmira Khorshidi, Javed Shirvani, Soha Zareh, Sam Hussain Hussaini, Zahra Median Ibrihimi, Khalil Behzadpour, Abbas Akhondy, Mehrdad Karbavi, Malektaj Karimi, Reza Gandomi, Kobra Davary Yekta, Oday Rashed Mohammed Hassan Alsalman and Farhad Akhlaghi Shaikhdoost.

[imagecaption] Page 1 of the Inquest finding into the deaths of persons who were on board a vessel known as The Janga (SIEV 221) which sank off the coast of Christmas Island on 15 December 2010.  These are the names of 30 people whose bodies were located and identified. [/imagecaption]

[BREAK]

In February 2012, Coroner Alastair Hope handed down his findings from an inquest on the the deaths of 30 people whose bodies were recovered and identified and another 20 people whose bodies were never found. The findings were predictable and did not address the key questions raised by Kevin and others regarding official responsibility for the safety of asylum seeker lives at sea.

The testimony of those held in detention who testified that they had notified guards well in advance of the expected arrival of the  boat was dismissed as  unreliable. However, Hope did affirm that:

  • The boat was first spotted by Christmas Island residents who happened to look out of their windows that morning rather than surveillance from Border Protection Command.
  • Neither the Australian Federal Police (AFP) nor the Volunteer Marine Rescue Service (VMRS) had access to a suitable vessel which could be used in rescue operations in those weather conditions which meant there was no effective capability on the island to respond to the emergency.
  • It was the responsibility of the Commonwealth to ensure there were suitable vessels on the island for an emergency at sea response at all times.

 


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This research was primarily supported under the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme from 2016-2020.

Partial funding was received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s Partnership Development Grants scheme in 2016-2017.

The views expressed herein are those of the named authors and are not necessarily those of the funders.

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