200 asylum-seekers missing after boat sinks on way to Australia

A wooden fishing boat carrying about 250 asylum seekers from Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey, that was believed to be heading for Australia sunk 90km (55 miles) off the coast of Indonesia on Saturday.

The boat turned over, broke apart and sank in bad weather and huge waves of up to 5 metres in height off Indonesia’s main island of Java.

Indonesian officials say that only 33 people (30 men, one woman and two children) have been saved. More than 200 asylum-seekers are still missing and thought to be dead.

Lieutenant Alwi Mudzakir a maritime police official heading the search said bad weather and large waves are challenging the rescue operation "We fear that a large number of victims will not be rescued."

Indonesian police blame the accident on people smugglers because they put too many passengers on a boat that was built to only carry 100 people or less.

Survivors said that they and the other passengers came from Iran and Afghanistan, and had each paid smugglers between $2,500 and $5,000 to get on a boat and seek a new life in Australia.

 "According to them, they had flown from Dubai to Jakarta and took buses to an unidentified location in Java to board the boat. They said they were heading to Christmas Island," Mr Purwanto said.

While most estimate that 250 asylum-seekers were on board, some reports say there were 380 asylum-seekers on the boat.

One survivor from Afghanistan, 24-year-old Esmat Adine, gave rescuers an estimate of how many passengers were on the boat.

"He did not know exactly how many passengers there were, but he said that four buses with around 60 or more adult passenger each had turned up to the port where the boat set off from," a translator for Mr. Adine said.

Mr. Esmat Adine told the Antara news agency that during the bad weather the ship had started rocking violently from side to side, triggering panic among the tightly packed passengers.

"That made the boat even more unstable and eventually it sank,” he said.

Mr. Adine added that he and others clung to parts of the broken boat until local fishermen rescued them. He estimated that more than 40 children were on the boat.

Indonesia has more than 18,000 islands and thousands of miles of unpatrolled coastline, making it a key transit point for smuggling migrants.

Australian Government officials have warned asylum-seekers and refugees against attempting to go to Australia by boat because it is so dangerous. 

Last month, a ship carrying about 70 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan capsized in the same area off the southern coast of Central Java province, and at least eight people died.

Australia’s new Home Affairs Minister Mr. Jason Clare blamed people smugglers for the tragedy.

"They're in the business of making money and they don't care if it kills people or not," he said.

December is one of the most dangerous months to attempt a sea crossing to Australia.

The dangerous monsoon season begins December 1 and this tragedy has come just over a year since the Christmas Island boat crash which killed dozens.

Australia told detention of child asylum-seekers is abuse

Refugee advocates have criticized the Australian Government for sending 73 unaccompanied child asylum seekers to a remote detention centre in rural Western Australia.

A plane carrying 36 teenage boys seeking asylum landed in the remote town after the Australian Government decided to use the town's detention centre to hold unaccompanied youths.

The boys, aged 14 to 17, are believed to be mostly from Afghanistan. Another 37 asylum seeker children will also be flown to the centre.

The Australian Government had planned to send the teenage boys to Malaysia for processing as part of a deal between Malaysia and Australia. But the High Court rejected this plan because Malaysia has not signed the UN's refugee convention.

According to recent statistics from the Australian Department of Immigration the majority of children currently in detention come from Iran and Afghanistan. 246 children have come from Iran and 187 from Afghanistan.

The Refugee Rights Action Network says detaining children is a form of child abuse. “We do know as a matter of absolute certainty that children that are held in immigration detention experience levels of depression, of self-harm and of suicide that is never seen in children that are held in the community", they said.

The Australian Medical Association said it was worried about the mental health of detainees, and that children were suffering from depression and self-harm.

"We are aware of a nine-year-old child who was recently admitted for trying to commit suicide," the Association told a committee of Australian politicians investigating the detention system.

They said hospitals had also reported large numbers of adults with mental health problems hurting themselves on purpose and requiring medical treatment.

Australia has a policy of mandatory detention that requires all people arriving in the country without a valid Australian visa to be detained in remote facilities while their applications for asylum are assessed. Some people wait for a year or more to find out whether they can stay in Australia or not.

A doctor at the Australian Medical Association has said, "Mandatory detention is medically harmful, violates human rights, has no known beneficial effects and is a waste of money".