Indonesian Police Name Four Suspects as Asylum-Seeker Boat Toll Reaches 15 By Farouk Arnaz on 12:08 pm July 27, 2013. Category News Tags: asylum seekers, boat accident, boat sinking Rescue workers jump as seawater hits the shore during a search for suspected asylum seekers, who were on a boat that capsized late on Tuesday after hitting a reef off the coast of Sukapura, at Sukapura beach, Cidaun district of Cianjur, Indonesia West Java province July 25, 2013. The group was travelling on a boat that capsized after hitting a reef off the coast of Sukapura late on Tuesday. Andriansyah, the head of the rescue team, said on Wednesday that nine people had died but another 189 suspected asylum seekers were rescued, after an earlier report that stated as many as 60 may have perished. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta) Rescue workers jump as seawater hits the shore during a search for suspected asylum seekers, who were on a boat that capsized late on Tuesday after hitting a reef off the coast of Sukapura, at Sukapura beach, Cidaun district of Cianjur, Indonesia West Java province July 25, 2013. The group was travelling on a boat that capsized after hitting a reef off the coast of Sukapura late on Tuesday. Andriansyah, the head of the rescue team, said on Wednesday that nine people had died but another 189 suspected asylum seekers were rescued, after an earlier report that stated as many as 60 may have perished. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta) Police are on the hunt for four people named as suspects over the sinking of an illegal asylum-seeker vessel earlier this week in which 15 people have been confirmed dead. Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto, a spokesman for the National Police, said in Jakarta on Friday that the West Java Police had identified the suspects as the Indonesian fixers and coordinators of the illegal attempt to carry up to 250 asylum seekers from Java to Australia’s Christmas Island. “They haven’t been arrested yet. We’re still trying to determine which laws they have violated,” he said. “We’re still developing the case and investigating the people-smuggling network, so we can’t reveal their identities yet. But they’re all Indonesians. Hopefully there are no officials involved in this network.” He did not say if the suspects were among the crew that abandoned the boat and its passengers when it began taking on water in high seas on Tuesday. Survivors of the ordeal have said the boat’s captain was Sri Lankan and the crew from Malaysia. The death toll from the disaster had risen to 15 as of Friday, with 189 survivors. Rescue officials said they did not know if any more passengers were missing. Three days after the boat sank off West Java, rescue operation chief Rochmali said it was “unlikely” any more survivors would be found, as weather conditions had deteriorated, with strong winds and waves hampering the search effort. “We don’t know the exact number of people who were on board. It’s possible they’re all accounted for, but we’ve sent a helicopter out anyway to scan the sea,” Rochmali told AFP. Among the 15 dead are six children, including an 18-month-old baby, and a pregnant woman, he added. Police are questioning the asylum seekers, who include Iranians and Sri Lankans. Some have been handed over to immigration officials and are staying in hotels in the West Java town of Sukabumi. Australian authorities alerted Indonesia of the incident on Tuesday evening, just days after Canberra announced that asylum seekers who arrived by boat would no longer be resettled in Australia even if they managed to secure refugee status. An AFP reporter who spoke to survivors on Wednesday said that one group of 38, including women and children, had swum for up to four hours in high seas to reach the shore on Tuesday night. Additional reporting from AFP
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 22:58:33 +0000
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