Indonesia detained Saturday 96 asylum seekers who had attempted to reach Australia, half of whom were rounded up after their boat capsized in western Java waters, police said. Police chief Irman Sugema said a wooden boat with 47 Afghans and Iranians leaked and capsized in the rough seas of Tasikmalaya in West Java province.
“All of them, 47 migrants and two boat crew, have been rescued alive in the afternoon and they are now being held at Tasikmalaya police office,” Sugema told AFP. Earlier on Saturday at 02:00 am (1900 GMT) he said police also arrested 49 Afghans and Iranians who were traveling by bus to the port in Tasikmalaya.
He said police would work with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the immigration office to settle the problem. In December an overloaded vessel carrying about 250 mostly Iranian and Afghan asylum seekers sank off Indonesia’s eastern Java, killing all but 47 people on board. Indonesia is a key staging post for people-smugglers taking Afghans, Iranians and other nationals on the sometimes deadly sea voyage to Australia