On the 21st of the June last year, more than 100 asylum seekers are believed to have drowned trying to make their way to Christmas Island from Indonesia.
It was in the early hours of the morning, on their fourth day at sea, that their boat, carrying 212 asylum seekers, capsized.
Seventeen bodies were taken to Christmas Island, leaving the West Australian Coroner to determine the cause of their deaths.
The rest were lost at sea.
Ryan Emery reports ahead of the Coroner's findings to be handed down this Wednesday.
The inquest that examined Australia's and Indonesia's actions leading up the asylum seekers' deaths lasted five days.
On the final day, counsel assisting the Coroner, Marco Tedeschi, said it was inevitable that 212 asylum seekers bound for Christmas Island would meet tragedy.
He said their wooden vessel was overcrowded, waves were washing overboard, and it was pure luck they got as far as they did before disaster struck.
It was about 4:30 am when, as one survivor told the court, the sound of the boat's engine suddenly changed and in less than 15 seconds the asylum seekers were in the water.
Many of them had been asleep.
Of the more than 100 believed drowned, most were trapped in the upturned hull.
Another survivor, known as KVA 10 to protect his identity, told the court:
"I saw people crying for God, their mum, their imam. It is hard for me to mention that time."
The Pakistani man told the court that from the moment the asylum-seekers left Indonesia four days earlier they had feared for their lives.
After complaining about the boat being overcrowded, they were assured another boat would meet them off the Indonesian coast.
They waited, but it never did arrive, leaving one crew member furious.
As they went further out to sea, the increasingly large rolling swell tossed their vessel around.
Waves crashed over the side with a bilge pump taking the water back out, except when it broke down on a few terrifying occasions.
KVA 10 told the court that he called Indonesian police on the boat's satellite phone, and was told to ring Australian authorities - despite the boat being in Indonesian waters.
"I just prayed to God to see any boat to help us."
KVA 10 said those on board understood the danger they were in.
"Why should we die? People were crying and that we must go back. People were throwing up and were saying for God's sake let us go back. They knew definitely that we would die."
As they went further out to sea, they began to call Australia's Rescue Co-ordination Centre asking for help, but the centre staff struggled to make out what they were saying.
"(Garbled sound of someone talking and high wind). RCC: "OK sir, if I'm going to speak to you, I need you to step out of the wind. I cannot hear you. I cannot hear what you're saying. You need to get out of the wind." (More garbled sounds).
Many of the calls would continue like this.
The RCC staff tried to get a position of the boat or how long they had been at sea.
"(Asylum seeker): "No good conditions, help, please my help". (RCC): "OK, no good conditions, do you have a GPS position?" (Asylum seeker): "Yeah, GPS (garbled talking). OK, (garbled talking)."
Eventually after many calls, and attempts to use translators, the RCC learnt where the boat was.
"(RCC): "OK, sir, your boat, if it's broken, you need to turn back to Indonesia. You are still inside Indonesian waters. If your boat is broken, Christmas Island is a long way away, you need to go back to Indonesia." (Asylum seeker/crew member): "OK, OK, OK." (silence, garbled sounds). RCC: "OK, if - are you there?" (silence; garbled sounds). (RCC): "Hello. (laughter) that sorted that out (laughter)."
During the inquest, the manager of the RCC, Allan Lloyd described the calls from the boat as "normal refugee patter".
He said that out of 209 boats that had called for help, only eight actually needed it.
But he bristled at a suggestion from counsel assisting the Coroner that distress calls weren't treated seriously by the Australia Maritime Safety Authority, which operates the Rescue Co-ordination Centre.
He said the suggestion was offensive, with AMSA having a more than 99 per cent success rate with finding asylum seeker boats in Australian waters.
Mr Lloyd told the court that the boat was never classified as in distress and it was constantly monitored.
When pushed on how, he said some of the techniques were classified.
He also wouldn't reveal how the Rescue Coordination Centre determined from phone calls if a boat really was in trouble.
He refused on the ground that it would give people smugglers ideas.
The inquest is examining Australia's and Indonesia's actions leading up to the drowning tragedy.
When the first call was made, Australia tried to hand the search to Indonesia's search and rescue organization BASNARAS because the boat was in its waters.
After 11 hours, BASNARAS took responsibility for the search.
But it emerged from the inquest that Australia never asked BASNARAS what assets it had to search for the asylum seekers.
Allan Lloyd from the Rescue Coordination Centre said AMSA had what he called a "strategic understanding" of what BASNARAS had available, but had not asked for the specifics with this search.
Coroner Alastair Hope remarked that he was surprised.
The Coroner was also surprised to hear that the West Australian police officer investigating the tragedy, was not given an internal government review into AMSA actions.
Detective Inspector David Bryson only received the report on the last day of the inquest and is now assessing it to see if it will change his conclusion of AMSA's handling of the situation.
He had concluded that AMSA had followed its international search and rescue obligations correctly.
It also emerged that a Federal Police officer, the liaison between WA police and the federal agencies concerned, may have told Customs and Border Protection not to provide classified information.
Coroner Alastair Hope will hand down his findings this Wednesday.
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