seen people at christmas island and taken to australia's main detension center would have seen how unseaworthy many of these boats were, and the sea conditions, as i understand it, around christmas island, have been absolutely awful. people saying it is the worst stormy sea conditions they have seen for many months. this is an awful situation. as i say, it is ongoing. we don't know, for instance, how many people have died, but it does seem 40 people have been rescued, and the search is on. >> what are the authorities telling you about their response to this. >> well, they are not saying a great deal at the moment, to be honest. it hasn't happened that long. it only happened 4.5 hours ago. they are scrambling to get four resources there if they can. and the navy has three boats. we understand there is one small naval boat and one speed boat. it is all hands on defpblgt we have heard reports of local people dashing to those cliffs and hurling these life jackets, everybody trying to get involved in the rescue oprage after being woken this morning by the most awful screaming and realizing somethin