Indonesia Launches Search by Air, Sea for Missing Afghan Asylum Boat

April 13, 2012


Mataram. Indonesian authorities searched by sea and air on Friday for any sign of a missing boat reportedly carrying dozens of Afghans that had sent a distress signal.

Australian refugee advocates who spoke to some of the asylum seekers on the boat Thursday and after midnight Friday said they believed the boat was carrying 60 mostly ethnic Hazara Afghans, some of them children.

“They were extremely, extremely distressed -- verging on hysterical at times,” said Ian Rintoul, who spoke to the boat on Thursday afternoon from Brisbane.

He said the vessel was near Sumbawa island in eastern Indonesia.

“They could see Sumbawa but the boat was starting to drift to sea. The boat was starting to take water. The seas were pretty rough,” Rintoul said.

Rintoul said he was told, “We need help, we need help, we’re sinking.”

He said he believed the refugees were mostly ethnic Hazaras from Afghanistan and included some children.

Rintoul contacted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which told Indonesian authorities.

Indonesian searchers said Friday they were scouring the area by air and sea.

“Our helicopter is searching the area but so far has found no sign of the boat,” said Marsudi, head of the search and rescue agency of West Nusa Tenggara province.

“We also deployed a tug boat and a speed boat,” he told AFP.

A Hazara association in Australia, which also said it had spoken to people on the boat, called on Australian authorities on Friday to help with the search.

“We were last contacted by people on the boat at 12:20 am Friday Perth time (1620 GMT Thursday),” said Ali Mohammadi, head of Australia’s United Hazara Association.

“We are requesting the Australian government to coordinate with the Indonesian government and provide whatever resources and assistance are needed to search for the boat.

“There are over 60 people’s lives at stake,” Mohammadi said in a statement.

Each year thousands of refugees -- many in recent months from Afghanistan and some Iranians -- try to make the perilous journey through Indonesian waters in hopes of seeking asylum in Australia.

Many of the overloaded and rickety boats used by people smugglers for the journey do not make it.

On Sunday a Singapore--registered tanker rescued around 120 Australia--bound asylum seekers -- all males and mostly Afghans and some Iranians -- from their sinking wooden boat.

They finally disembarked in Indonesia, after refusing to get off the docked tanker for two days, insisting they be allowed to continue their journey to Australia.

In December, a boat carrying around 250 mostly Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers sank in Indonesian waters on its way to Christmas Island, with only 47 surviving.

Agence France-Presse


(x the JG)

April 14, 2012


Indonesian authorities have located a boat that was carrying about 60 asylum seekers that they feared had capsized.

A helicopter and four boats had been searching off Sumbawa, east of Bali, after the Afghan asylum seekers made a distress call to Australia late on Wednesday.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says authorities informed him the boat had been found this morning, beached on the south coast of Lombok, east of Bali.

He says the vessel managed to return to shore.

"The Indonesian search authority has located the boat in Lombok," he told Sky News.

"It appears that the people on board have returned to Lombok."

Mr Bowen says it was a very dangerous situation and news the boat has been found is a big relief.

"It's been a big worry over the last 36 hours or so about what would happen to this boat," he said.

He says the incident is another reminder for why the Federal Government needs to implement policies such as offshore processing to deter people from travelling to Australia by boat.


(This article from the ABC News)