Counting and accounting for deaths of asylum seekers en route to Australia

As we begin writing this chapter about the deaths of asylum-seekers off the northern coast of Australia, an aerial and underwater search of unprecedented proportions was underway across a vast area of the southern Indian Ocean. For many months, the tragic disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 made headlines and generated public concern around the world. The search initially for survivors and then for human remains and wreckage, has mobilised cutting edge technologies and attracted human and financial resources from at least 26 countries (Wardell, 2014) anxious to help resolve the mystery and demonstrate their good standing as global leaders. Media reports have speculated that the operation could eventually cost, "hundreds of millions of dollars," (Wardell, 2014).