A navy lieutenant has described how he cut a line to save a child attached to a drowned woman when an asylum seeker boat smashed into rocks on Christmas Island.
Sub-Lieutenant Jeremy Evain told the inquest in Perth on Friday he was on one of two boats sent from the patrol vessel HMAS Pirie to rescue people after their craft smashed against the rocks off Christmas Island's Rocky Point on December 15 last year.
The sailors battled high waves, strong winds and rain squalls to reach the treacherous cliffside site where the asylum seekers' craft was smashed apart.
West Australian Coroner Alastair Hope is conducting the inquest into the tragedy which resulted in the deaths of 30 people from Iraq and Iran, and the likely deaths of 20 more people.
SLt Evain said that as his boat rounded the point he saw the vessel being smashed against the rocks as people clung to it and others floated in the water, many screaming for help.
"I observed the sea was throwing debris and people into the cliff face," the 22-year-old officer said.
He said the risk of debris blocking the intakes of the boat's engines meant they had to stand off and throw lines with lifebelts attached to people in the water, then pull them to the boats.
He saw dead bodies in the water, including a middle-aged woman just below the surface who was attached by a line to a child in a lifejacket floating on the surface.
To rescue the child, he had to cut the line, he said.
SLt Evain said he had to ignore cries for help from some people to concentrate on saving those he could.
At one point, his boat lost power as its engine intake was blocked, putting the vessel in danger of being washed onto the cliffs, but switching the engine on and off cleared the blockage, he said.
The coxswain of the second rescue boat, Leading Seaman Jonathan West, told the inquest there was a strong smell of diesel at the crash site and fuel-soaked survivors proved difficult to grasp and pull aboard.
The experienced boatman said he got as close to the cliffs as safely possible and saw men with lifejackets holding women and children afloat and pushing the children towards the rescue boats.
Leading Seaman West said he had to make judgment calls on who to pick up, keeping the safety of his crew in mind, and several times they lost people to the waves as they tried to back them out after throwing ropes and lifebelts to them.
He said that on a return to the Pirie with 10 survivors aboard he noticed two men were hostile to a middle-aged Indonesian man thought to be the master of the vessel.
He said he placed the man at the rear of the boat to defuse the situation.
Leading Seaman West said that on a return rescue trip, he counted 16 dead people in the water, including three children and an infant. None of them were wearing lifejackets.
On that trip, the boat's intake was blocked within 10 metres of the cliff face, but Leading Seaman West managed to power it out of danger, before returning to Pirie to have a lifejacket removed from the intake.
The coroner noted Pirie commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Mitchell Livingstone had recommended in a report that a better system to prevent the blockage of the sea boats' engine intakes be found.
Lt Cmdr Livingstone also recommended a recovery line used by kayakers be issued for sea boat use, after the crews found lifebelts tied to lines could be blown back by the wind when thrown to people in the water.
Mr Hope praised Lt Cmdr Livingstone, SLt Evain and Leading Seaman West, saying they showed courage in their leadership and actions that saved lives during the tragedy.
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