الرئيسية
Indonesian rescuers Monday held out little hope of finding any more
survivors with over 200 asylum-seekers feared dead after an overloaded
boat sank in stormy seas en route to Australia.
The weekend
disaster looks set to rank as the worst loss of life yet from the
sinking of one of the many boats packed with Asian and Middle Eastern
migrants who undertake the perilous sea voyage from Indonesia to
Australia.
Five rescue boats and two helicopters have been
deployed to comb Indonesia's far-eastern shores despite bad weather,
joined by an Australian navy patrol ship and surveillance aircraft,
officials said.
"Visibility is really low. Currents are very
strong, waves are up to three metres (10 feet) high and it has just
started to rain," Kelik Purwanto, a search and rescue official in
Trenggalek district, told AFP.
"We will continue our search
eastwards towards West Timor. It's unlikely we will find any survivors,
but we are hoping for the best," he said.
The fibreglass vessel
had a capacity of 100 but was carrying about 250 migrants -- mostly
Afghans and Iranians -- when it sank on Saturday, 40 nautical miles off
eastern Java.
Thirty-three survivors were plucked from the
shark-infested waters on Saturday and taken to Blitar city on Sunday for
formal identification, officials said.
"Immigration officials
will find out who they are and their motive for coming here," Siswanto,
who heads the East Java provincial disaster management agency, said.
Survivors interviewed by AFP said they were heading to Australia's
remote Christmas Island when their boat was hit by a storm and capsized.
They were floating in the sea for six hours before fishermen rescued
them.
The migrants were said to include Pakistanis, Iraqis, Turks
and Saudis. They said they had paid agents between $2,500 and $5,000 to
seek asylum in Australia and claimed their UN documentation papers were
lost at sea.
Thousands of asylum-seekers head through Southeast
Asian countries on their way to Australia every year and many link up
with people-smugglers in Indonesia for the dangerous voyage on
ramshackle boats.
Christmas Island is a favoured destination for
people-smugglers, lying closer to Indonesia than Australia. Nearly 50
would-be migrants are believed to have died in wild seas during a
shipwreck there in December 2010.
survivors with over 200 asylum-seekers feared dead after an overloaded
boat sank in stormy seas en route to Australia.
The weekend
disaster looks set to rank as the worst loss of life yet from the
sinking of one of the many boats packed with Asian and Middle Eastern
migrants who undertake the perilous sea voyage from Indonesia to
Australia.
Five rescue boats and two helicopters have been
deployed to comb Indonesia's far-eastern shores despite bad weather,
joined by an Australian navy patrol ship and surveillance aircraft,
officials said.
"Visibility is really low. Currents are very
strong, waves are up to three metres (10 feet) high and it has just
started to rain," Kelik Purwanto, a search and rescue official in
Trenggalek district, told AFP.
"We will continue our search
eastwards towards West Timor. It's unlikely we will find any survivors,
but we are hoping for the best," he said.
The fibreglass vessel
had a capacity of 100 but was carrying about 250 migrants -- mostly
Afghans and Iranians -- when it sank on Saturday, 40 nautical miles off
eastern Java.
Thirty-three survivors were plucked from the
shark-infested waters on Saturday and taken to Blitar city on Sunday for
formal identification, officials said.
"Immigration officials
will find out who they are and their motive for coming here," Siswanto,
who heads the East Java provincial disaster management agency, said.
Survivors interviewed by AFP said they were heading to Australia's
remote Christmas Island when their boat was hit by a storm and capsized.
They were floating in the sea for six hours before fishermen rescued
them.
The migrants were said to include Pakistanis, Iraqis, Turks
and Saudis. They said they had paid agents between $2,500 and $5,000 to
seek asylum in Australia and claimed their UN documentation papers were
lost at sea.
Thousands of asylum-seekers head through Southeast
Asian countries on their way to Australia every year and many link up
with people-smugglers in Indonesia for the dangerous voyage on
ramshackle boats.
Christmas Island is a favoured destination for
people-smugglers, lying closer to Indonesia than Australia. Nearly 50
would-be migrants are believed to have died in wild seas during a
shipwreck there in December 2010.