2009 – Ashmore Reef Australia – Explosion

On the morning of April 16, 2009, a 25-metre diesel-powered fishing boat exploded near Ashmore Reef, 840 km west of Darwin. The boat was carrying 58 refugees, Indonesian crew and Australian Defence Force Personnel when the blast tore the wooden boat apart. Royal Darwin Hospital was activated as the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre and two rapid response teams were dispatched.

The deployment would be the last for the Royal Darwin Hospital Rapid Response Team. The response capability, under the operational arm of the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, was streamlined and renamed the Australian Medical Assistance Team, or AUSMAT in 2010. The major benefit being members being deployment could be sourced from every state and Territory in Australia.