Refugee campaigners said Saturday that a boat carrying 153 asylum seekers was in trouble off a remote Australian island, but the government said there were no significant incidents at sea to report.
The 72 foot boat carrying mostly Tamil asylum seekers, including women and children, left India two weeks ago and was 175 nautical miles west of Australia’s Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island, the Refugee Action Coalition said.
“We are refugees. We come from Sri Lanka – we stayed in India and we are unable to live there. That’s why we are coming to Australia,” a man who claimed to be onboard told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The man, who only gave his first name as Duke, said there were 32 women and 37 children on the vessel which would be, if it reaches Christmas Island, the first asylum seeker boat to reach Australia in six months.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison refused to confirm or deny the reports, saying the government had not changed its policy of only commenting when there was a significant incident to report.
“It is our standard practice under Operation Sovereign Borders to report on any significant events regarding maritime operations at sea particularly where there are safety of life at sea issues associated and I am advised I have no such reports to provide,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“There is therefore no significant event for me to report at sea.”
Australia’s conservative government has a policy of pushing boats back towards Indonesia, where they have traditionally departed from, as part of a range of measures designed to stop people smuggling.
But refugee advocates said given this boat came from India and had sprung an oil leak, it required assistance.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesperson Ian Rintoul said he had spoken to someone onboard early Saturday who told him the boat had made progress towards Christmas Island.
But he said those onboard felt they would run out of oil before making land.
