27 asylum seekers die as boat sinks off Australia

A wooden boat packed with around 70 asylum seekers smashed apart on jagged rocks in heavy seas off an Australian island on Wednesday,flinging screaming women and children into churning whitewater and killing at least 27 people.

Christmas Island residents on a cliff above watched in horror as the boat broke apart with a crack,dumping passengers into monstrous waves that pounded them against the rocks.

The Customs and Border Protection Service said in a statement Wednesday that 27 bodies had been recovered from the water. Forty-one survivors were plucked from the seas,and one person made it to shore.