Indonesia Says 217 People Missing After Asylum Seekers Boat Sinks off Java
Indonesia Says 217 Asylum Seekers Missing After Boat Sinks
Juni Kriswanto/AFP/Getty Images
Survivors of a boat that sank are treated at a temporary shelter in Watulimo, Indonesia. The boat, with the capacity to carry 100 passengers, was overloaded with passengers from Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the rescue agency said .
Survivors of a boat that sank are treated at a temporary shelter in Watulimo, Indonesia. The boat, with the capacity to carry 100 passengers, was overloaded with passengers from Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the rescue agency said .Photographer: Juni Kriswanto/AFP/Getty Images
Indonesia rescuers found another 13 survivors today after a boat carrying asylum seekers sank in stormy weather over the weekend, leaving more than 200 people missing. Thirty-four people were rescued yesterday.
“They were found in Nusa Barong island, in the Jember regency of East Java province,” Siswanto, head of the East Java office of the National Disaster Management Agency, said by phone today. The rescue may last seven days from the day the boat sunk, he said.
The previous 34 survivors were moved to the immigration office yesterday evening, Sugeng Widodo, head of the Trenggalek office of the agency, said by phone today, adding that he didn’t know if they would be deported.
The boat was heading to Australia’s Christmas Island and had illegally entered Indonesian waters, Gagah Prakosa, a spokesman at the National Search and Rescue Agency, said by telephone and mobile-phone text messages from Jakarta yesterday. The vessel, with the capacity to carry 100 passengers, was overloaded with people from Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the rescue agency said in a statement on its website.
Asylum seekers, usually from Middle Eastern countries, often pass through Indonesian waters as they try to reach Australia. The practice is a major political issue in Australia, highlighted in December last year when a wooden boat crammed with about 90 people crashed in heavy seas against the cliffs of Christmas Island, killing as many as 50.
The island lies about 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) northwest of Perth, the capital of Western Australia state.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in October that refugees arriving by boat will still face mandatory detention upon arrival and may then be placed within the community. Gillard was forced to abandon a plan to handle refugees outside the country when it was opposed by lawmakers.
“This is a terrible tragedy. People have died, there are people still missing,” Jason Clare, Australia’s new home affairs minister, said on Sky TV yesterday. “Our focus today is on the search and rescue efforts and our thoughts today are with the people who died and with the families of those still lost at sea.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Yoga Rusmana in Jakarta at yrusmana@bloomberg.net Femi Adi in Jakarta at fadi1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Greg Ahlstrand at gahlstrand@bloomberg.net
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