Five killed as Sydney harbour boats collide

An overloaded cabin cruiser on a night-time joyride in Sydney’s famous harbour collided with a fishing trawler, killing five young people and injuring nine.

Four women and a man, all in their late teens or early 20s, died when the vessels slammed together in the dark yesterday, police and hospital staff said.

All of the dead and injured were aboard the smaller boat, a 23ft cruiser owned by a boat repair company that said it appeared to have been stolen for a trip.

Deadly boat collisions in the harbour of Australia’s largest city are rare, and the accident drew comment from the prime minister.

“This is every parents’ nightmare,” Kevin Rudd told Fairfax Radio. “I just am stunned by this.”

Damage to the cruiser suggested it was rammed from behind by the trawler, a lobster boat heading out to sea, police said.

Police would not speculate about the cause of the accident, but said they would investigate why the cabin cruiser – licensed to carry eight people – was overcrowded and being used for social purposes at such an hour – 3am Thursday, local time.

The crash happened near Bradley’s Head in a favoured sightseeing area of the harbour, home to Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge landmarks. Once a bustling commercial port, the harbour is now dominated by pleasure craft, passenger ferries and cruise ships.

Police Inspector Tony Bear said all 14 people aboard the smaller boat – aged from 18 to 31 – were thrown into the water, chilled by a recent cold snap.

Passing vessels began plucking victims from the water, and some of them were treated on a small wharf near the crash site before being rushed to hospital.

John McPherson, general manager of Sydney Ship Repair and Engineering which owns the cabin cruiser, said it was normally used as a mobile repair unit, and that it was not on company business at the time of the crash.

“It appears that somebody has decided that they are going to take our boat for a joyride and this horrible event has happened,” Mr McPherson said.

He said the boat could not have safely carried 14 people, and cited alcohol and inexperience as possible factors in the crash.

The injured were taken to Royal North Shore Hospital, one in a critical condition, two in a serious condition and the others with relatively minor injuries, said hospital spokesman Dr Andrew Rochford.

The most recent fatal crash in Sydney Harbour was in March last year, when a passenger ferry ploughed into a pleasure boat under the harbour bridge, killing three people.

The most notorious was in 1927, when a mail steamer collided with a ferry, sinking the ferry and killing 40 people.