Sydney: Five people died and three were seriously injured on Thursday when the small work boat they had commandeered for a Sydney Harbour nighttime joyride collided with a trawler leaving Australia's most famous waterway.

The dead - four women and one man - were in their late teens or early 20s. They were aboard the stolen runabout, which had its stern sliced off in the 3:00 am (1700 GMT on Wednesday) accident about 150 metres offshore from Bradleys Head and in sight of the famous Opera House.

Police said that 14 people were packed onto the tiny half-cabin vessel and they were yet to interview any of the survivors. The two crew members aboard the trawler were uninjured.

Royal North Shore Hospital registrar Andrew Rochford said eight men and one woman, ranging in age from 18 to 31, had been brought in. All but three have been released.

One 30-year-old man was described as being in serious condition with "extremely significant injuries" and two people had less serious injuries.

"Only one is needing intensive care," Rochford told national broadcaster ABC. "Clearly, this is something that's a fairly significant shock to them and we're dealing with that as much as we're dealing with the medical side of their problems."

Police Inspector Glen Finness, from the Marine Area Command, said all the people involved had been accounted for after an air and sea search.

He said it was too early to say if the boat had its navigation lights on or whether the occupants were wearing life jackets.

Finness said those aboard were "out doing social activities".

Bradleys Head juts out from the north shore of the harbour and has to be negotiated by boats heading east out to sea or on to Manly and other harbour attractions to the north.

Source : IANS