SYDNEY (AFP) ? A government inquiry into a horrific shipwreck off Australia which killed some 48 refugees Wednesday praised the rescue operation, saying it was "extremely complicated" to detect approaching boats.
The Senate Committee found rescuers did everything they could to save lives after the rickety vessel, carrying an estimated 90 Iranian, Iraqi and Kurdish asylum seekers, smashed on rocks at remote Christmas Island in December.
Originating from Indonesia's Palau Panaitan island, the wooden boat was dashed against limestone cliffs in a wild storm at the far-flung Australian outpost, throwing people to their deaths, including women and children.
Though navy and border officials managed to pluck 41 survivors from the huge waves and another man scrambled to land, it was the worst refugee accident in Australian waters in a decade.
The committee said "the response to the horrific tragedy that took place on 15 December 2010 was professional, courageous and as effective as it could possibly be under the prevailing weather conditions".
"(Rescuers') courage in the face of very real personal risk certainly increased the number of survivors. Their actions were nothing short of heroic."
The inquiry's scope did not extend to whether authorities had known the boat was approaching before it was physically sighted from the island -- a key issue currently being examined in an inquest.
But the report said the boat, codenamed SIEV 221, had been "unexpected" and the weather -- "amongst the worst ever experienced on the island" -- rendered on-ship radar and electronic surveillance useless.
A land-based radar had been trialled following the shipwreck with little success, it added.
"The radar picture of the marine environment around Christmas Island is extremely complicated, as it results from a range of objects including waves, clouds and birds, as well as vessels," it said.
"Simply detecting an object with the radar is not sufficient to identify it as a small boat."
The committee also noted recent media reports that a man in immigration detention at Christmas Island who was in touch with some on board SIEV 221 had tried to alert authorities of its approach three hours before the crash.
"Given that these media reports have emerged at such a late stage, the committee did not take evidence on the issue during the course of its inquiry, and it notes that the veracity of the claims remains untested," it said.
The claims would be considered by the coroner, it said.
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