Sailor 'ignored orders to save Afghans'

An Australian naval sailor disregarded orders from superiors so he could rescue
several asylum seekers from a burning boat, a coronial inquest has heard.
Leading Seaman Paul Heatherington on Monday told a Darwin inquest into the drowning
deaths of five Afghani asylum seekers that he drove his rigid hulled inflatable boat
(RHIB) up along side a wooden fishing vessel after it exploded in April last year.

"The people that were clinging on to the SIEV (suspected illegal entry vessel)
wouldn't even let go to swim that metre to our sea boat, which is why we had to raft
up against the SIEV to pull these people into our boat," he said.
He told the inquest he disregarded orders from HMAS Childers to move the RHIB away
from SIEV 36 - a warning that was issued out of concern the boat might explode a
second time.
"There were people on the burning boat, sir," he said.
"They needed rescuing and we were there."
The inquest heard that Leading Seaman Heatherington pulled about 12 people from the
water, including a man who was face-down beneath the burning boat.
The man was among the five who died, and another 40 injured, when the wooden fishing
vessel they were aboard, known as the SIEV 36, caught fire and exploded while under
the control of the Australian navy.
The inquest on Monday heard that naval officers told the boat's passengers to remain
calm because a larger Australian vessel would be coming to help transfer them to
Australia.
In the opening week of the inquest, statements suggested that trouble started on the
SIEV 36 because its passengers mistakenly thought they would be turned back to
Indonesian waters.
The inquest continues.



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