Customs has confirmed it was not monitoring a doomed boat packed with asylum seekers which was wrecked on rocks on Christmas Island yesterday morning.
Western Australian police received two triple-0 calls for help as the boat - which authorities say was carrying up to 100 asylum seekers - foundered in heavy seas near the island.
Twenty-eight people, including some children, are known to have died as the ship was pounded to pieces in front of horrified onlookers in heavy seas near Flying Fish Cove.
Another 44 people are confirmed to have been rescued from the wreckage but authorities hold little hope of finding anyone else alive.
Customs has confirmed that the boat was not being tracked as it approached Christmas Island and says Border Protection Command only became aware of it at about 9:48am AEDT (5:48am Christmas Island time) after a visual sighting.
Customs says police in Perth received two triple-0 calls from someone who said they were on a boat with about 80 people on board.
The calls appear to have been made about 20 minutes after the doomed boat was first sighted but police say they cannot say if the caller was on the vessel.
Border Protection says no distress beacons or signals were activated to indicate the boat was in trouble.
Police contacted the Maritime Safety Authority after receiving the triple-0 calls and Border Protection sent two rescue vessels - the HMAS Pirie and ACV Triton - to Christmas Island between 10:10am and 10:55am AEDT (6:10am and 6:55am Christmas Island time).
The search for victims of the wreck resumed at first light today but is being hampered by continuing bad weather in the area.
Undoubtedly this will turn into another political football and Abbott will try and get maximum leverage out of it against the government. And in the ensuing political shitfight the fact that maybe as many as fifty, sixty people have died will inevitably be forgotten. I think they've edited the amateur footage cause last night they had plenty of the ship breaking up on the rocks...and it was horrible.
I love the smell of September in the morning. Once we got off at Richmond, walked up to the 'G, and there was no game on. Not one footballer in sight. But that cut grass smell, spring rain...it smelt like victory.
Dynamic. When [Kuznetsov] decided he was going to make a difference, he did it...Like Ovechkin...then you find out - he's with Washington too? You're kidding. - Ron Wilson
Look. First off they aren't asylum seekers or refugees they're brown skinned queue jumping terror-crims. Andrew Bolt told me so. These bastards better not get any medical treatment from us or next thong you know every sick person in the world is going to be wrecking their ship just to get here. I mean really, if they can afford to just write off their boat Luke that then they clearly aren't that bad off.
....sorry cynicism is my defense mechanism. Some of the appalling racist, sociopathic shit I've heard spoken aboiut this. urgh.
