Survivors of Indonesian Boat Tragedy Face Uncertain Future

Of the estimated 250 asylum seekers on board the boat which capsized off the Indonesian coast in December, only 47 survived. But despite surviving the tragedy, they face an uncertain future.

Most of the asylum seekers are now being held in an Indonesian detention centre and do not know what will happen to them. Those in detention say that they still haven’t been visited by UNHCR. Five have asked to be returned to their homes in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey. The rest are desperate and say that will get on another boat if they can.

The conditions in the Indonesian detention centre are bad, say the asylum seekers. “I told them I was a refugee, that I had lost my whole family,” said Dawood Waladbegi from Iran. His wife and two children died in the boat sinking. “They spat on me, beat me and told me I was in their country now and it was their rules.”

Ali Mohammad, from Afghanistan, has a black eye and two deep gashes on his legs after the detention center guards beat him for trying to escape. Survivors also said they had been hit with electrical prods after a riot when they tried to break down the detention centre's fence and threw rocks at staff.

One of the survivors who said he will return home, Esmat Adine, 24, says that he signed the forms to return to Afghanistan because he could not face being held in the detention centre in Indonesia for two years while UNHCR decided whether he was a refugee or not. Even though he fears for his life if he is sent back to Kabul, he says he will try to go to Canada instead. “If Australia doesn't accept my request I will deport myself and go directly to Kabul airport (and) to Canada,” he said.

The asylum seekers are also traumatized by violent deaths of their families and loved ones. Ten-year-old Athena Hardani from Iran was on the boat with her father, mother and sister. She is one of only three children of the twenty on board to survive. The last thing she remembers before the boat rolled over is her little sister’s face. “I learned to swim in school, but my sister Mobina didn’t,” she says. “My heart is sad because my mother and sister are not here. I know nothing about them.”

Athena was rescued soon after the boat capsized by a passing fishing boat but her father, Mohammad, spent three days clinging to the wreckage of the boat before being picked up by a ferry which happened to be in the area. “We spent three days and two nights that way,” he said. “I thought, ‘I can’t leave my little girl in this harsh world, I must live. I owe her my life.’” The 36-year-old welder from Ahvaz in Iran said that letting go of his younger daughter, eight-year-old Mobina, was the hardest thing he has ever done. “I think my wife had a heart attack from shock, but there was nothing I could do for my little girl.” Father and daughter are believed to be the only related survivors and were reunited by Indonesian authorities on Friday 23rd December 2011.

Another survivor spoke of what he had seen while waiting to be rescued. “Most of the people came out through the windows and died in front of our eyes,” said Syed, a Pakistani Hazara. “I saw their dead bodies floating on the sea. We witnessed all of this madness, death in the water for six hours.”

Jamble, a 25-year-old local fisherman, owns one of the fishing boats that rescued the first group of survivors. He says that he spotted several dark dots from his small wooden fishing vessel and decided to look closer. He and his three crew members were horrified when they saw hysterical and exhausted people clinging to anything that floated. He says the survivors immediately started swimming towards his boat. “They were all fighting, scrambling to get into my boat,” Jamble said. And although he only had room for 10 more people he managed to get 25 asylum seekers onto the boat. He says many of them injured and were begging for water to drink. Those left behind were screaming and crying. “I'm so sad ... I feel so guilty, but there were just too many of them.” “I was worried if we took any more we'd sink too,” he said.

Some people travelled to Indonesia from Australia after the tragedy to see if any of the family or friends had survived. Jeremy Jafari, an Afghan Australian, broke down at Bhayangkara Hospital in Surabaya after police showed him a photo of the body of his sister. “I'm certain it's my younger sister,” he said, crying. “I saw a physical mark on her body.” He was supported by Said Abbas Sultani, another Afghan living in Australia who had also travelled to Indonesia to search for members of his wife's family from Iran.

The Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency said they had only been able to find 101 dead bodies from the accident. “We have not found anymore bodies over the past two days, so we decided to stop our search and rescue efforts,” they said.

The Australian Government blamed the tragedy on people smugglers. “They’re in the business of making money and they don’t care if it kills people or not,” the Home Affairs Minister said.

The boat journey from Indonesia to Australia is very dangerous. In November another boat, carrying about 70 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan capsized in the same area off Indonesia and at least eight people died.

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.

A Year Since 50 Asylum-seekers died in the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy

A year has passed since a boat carrying asylum seekers crashed into the jagged cliffs off the coast of Christmas Island. The boat, known as SIEV 221, crashed into the sharp rocks early in the morning of December 15. 42 people survived but 50 drowned in the tragedy.

Among the survivors is Sayed Hossien Hossieni. His wife, son and wife’s cousin were among the 50 who drowned.

A year later, Hossien’s application for refugee status was approved and he was granted a permanent protection visa but he remains haunted by the deaths of his wife and son.

“The things I saw during the crash, the memories of my wife, my kid . . . I can't get those out of my mind,” he said.

“I am living my own nightmare.”

He has not been able to find a job and lives alone in a flat with nothing but some photocopied black and white photos of his wife and child.

In November he tried to end his life and is back in hospital again, still struggling to deal with his loss.

His wife was one of the 20 people whose bodies were never found. This is particularly hard for Hossien. “I still feel my wife's body -- because it wasn't recovered, I feel she is still there. When I go out to visit people, I can't stay long -- I feel I have to get back home, because Mariem will be waiting for me.”

The boat carrying Hossien and his family was spotted by Christmas Island locals just after dawn on December 15 struggling in the high seas. The Island’s port had been closed for days and the monsoon weather was the worst seen in many years. The boat was headed straight towards the Island. Had it then turned east it would have reached safe waters. Instead, it turned west and was soon dangerously close to the cliffs.

SIEV 221 was an Indonesian fishing boat about 15 metres long.  Before leaving Jakarta, the asylum seekers from Iran and Iraq were told that the boat was comfortable, safe and properly equipped. This was a lie. The only safety equipment on board was 20 to 30 life jackets and the crew were fishermen who had never made the journey before. There were 92 people on board. Another boat had collected the captain as soon as they had entered Australian waters, leaving the asylum seekers and inexperienced crew to make the most dangerous part of the journey on their own.

Christmas Island locals watched horrified as the boat was pushed towards the cliffs by the rough seas. They collected life jackets and waited for the rescue boats to arrive. The hospital was on standby. The boat crashed into the cliffs three times before it broke apart. People and wreckage were thrown into the swirling water.

Hossien remembers the chaos. “Before we hit the cliffs, I emptied a petrol drum and offered it to my wife to hang on to, but she said, ‘You look after the kid’.”

But it was too late. “On hitting the rocks, the planks cracked and slammed into people. About 40 to 70 people just tumbled into each other. As I was trying to reach my wife's hand, with all the people around we got separated,” he says.

Hossien made it to open sea and to the cliffs where he tried to hang on to a rope thrown by locals. When he realised the waves would crush him against the rocks he let go and swam back from the cliffs. He managed to find a life jacket thrown into the water by the locals and went to try to find his wife and child.

When the rescue boats finally arrived they could not get close to the wreckage in case they crushed people in the rough waves or crashed themselves. Instead they got creative, attaching life jackets and life rings to ropes to get to survivors. 41 people were pulled from the water and one man survived by jumping onto the cliffs. Only 30 bodies were eventually recovered.

The survivors were taken to the Christmas Island Detention Centre where they were kept until their refugee applications were determined. A group of survivors, including Hossien, were briefly released from detention to attend funerals for some of those who had died. Nine bodies were returned to their families in Iran and Iraq for burials there.

Hossien’s friends and relatives back in Iran ask him whether they should use people smugglers to try to get to Australia. “Please do not take such a risk, it is not worth it,” he says.

Asylum Seeker Boat Almost Crashes Near Christmas Island

The Christmas Island boat tragedy was almost repeated when another asylum seeker boat came very close to crashing into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island just over a week ago.

The boat, carrying 79 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Sudan and Pakistan, was rescued by local volunteers and naval personnel in stormy weather on the evening of November 20. Officials only detected the boat after one of the passengers made an emergency telephone call to a relative living in Australia. Those on board were taken to Christmas Island for health, security and identity checks.

According to the asylum seekers on board, the boat’s captain jumped overboard before the Australian Navy arrived. Under new laws in Australia crew on asylum seeker boats who are arrested will serve mandatory time in jail. Officials believe this is the first time a captain has tried to avoid being arrested.

The captain is still missing and feared dead after search-and-rescue efforts by Australian officials failed to find him.

The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul says the Government's people smuggling laws should be abandoned. “The people who are in control of the boats are becoming so fearful of consequences of carrying asylum seekers that they would jump overboard not only endangering themselves but potentially endangering other people," he said.

The near-sinking occurred almost a year after last December’s tragedy in which a boat carrying asylum seekers smashed into Christmas Island’s rocky shore in similar conditions. The 2010 disaster cost the lives of 50 asylum seekers. The latest boat rescue also comes less than a month after 20 asylum seekers and crew drowned when their boat sank before it could even leave Indonesian waters. These incidents highlight the dangers facing asylum seekers trying to reach Australia by boat.