15 more survivors from asylum boat found

20 Dec 2011, 6:32 am   -   Source: AAP
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The total number of survivors, including the two crew, is now 49. (Getty)

The total number of survivors, including the two crew, is now 49. (Getty)

Fifteen survivors from a boat which sank in heavy seas off East Java have been found safe and well, and an Indonesian official in charge of the search is hopeful that more may be found alive.

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Fifteen survivors from a boat which sank in heavy seas off East Java have been found safe and well, and an Indonesian official in charge of the search is hopeful that more may be found alive.

Sutrisno, who is in charge of the search and rescue mission, confirmed to AAP on Monday afternoon that 13 people - 12 men and one woman - had been picked up on the island of Nusa Barung.

Two crew, who abandoned the doomed ship in a dinghy as it began to sink, were also found on Monday afternoon on the East Java mainland at Sindang Biru.

They will be interviewed by police in an effort to discover the identity of the people-smuggling syndicate behind the boat which went down shortly after leaving for Christmas Island.

The total number of survivors, including the two crew, is now 49.

Most of them are being accommodated at a hotel in the small town of Blitar, about 170km from the East Java capital of Surabaya.

"We are still optimistic about finding more survivors," Sutrisno told AAP as he confirmed that the 13 people from the island were now in the coastal town of Jember.

"After today, we have great hope that we will find more survivors."

But for another of the asylum seekers aboard the ill-fated vessel there has been only bad news.

Dawood Waladbegi has resigned himself to the horrible likelihood that he will never again see his wife and two young children, all of whom are believed to have drowned in their desperate bid to make it to Australia.

The ethnic Hazara was one of more than 200 people aboard a massively overcrowded boat which went down in heavy seas off East Java in Indonesia about 7am local time on Saturday.

Up to 40 children are believed to have perished in the ill-fated voyage, including Dawood's wife and their two young children Danial and Amir Hussain.

His brother and his wife's brother were also aboard the boat.

Speaking through another of the survivors, Esmat Adine, the distraught Dawood said his family were trying to make it to Christmas Island in the hope of being reunited one day with his other brother Kamram, who lives in Melbourne.

"He was sure when he survived some of his family members like his brother, his wife, and also children were still alive," Esmat said.

"We have no news either they are alive or not."

"He lost everything, his two children, his wife, his brother and his wife's brother."

Esmat, too, has lost family. His cousin and uncle are among the missing.

"All of us, we lost all our family. Our sister, our brother, our children," he said as he recounted the terrifying eight hours he spent in the heavy seas before he was plucked from the water by local fishermen.

"I see with my own eyes the children die. I see the dead bodies on the surface of the water."

Esmat said about 70 people made it into the water as the boat began to sink. He squeezed his way out of a small window, but said the rest were trapped inside the vessel.

"Everyone lost their hopes, (thinking) that yes, we will die. All of us, that no one would help us."

"All of us felt it was the end of our life. We were seeing everywhere all dead bodies."

"We need you," we said to God.

"It was a miracle."

Esmat said he paid $4000 for his seat on the boat, giving the money to an Iranian man in Jakarta.

He was told that the people smuggler behind the deadly venture was an Afghan known as Karbalayee. He thinks, however, the name was an alias.

Others among the more than 200 passengers paid as much as $6000 to board a vessel which authorities have said was not seaworthy and only had a capacity of about 100 people.

They are all now paying a much heavier price.

"The people smugglers, they are not human," Esmat said.

"They just think about money, nothing else."

Despite this latest tragedy, almost a year to the day after up to 50 asylum seekers were killed when their boat was smashed apart on rocks at Christmas Island, Esmat said others would still try to make the perilous crossing to Australia.

"There are many, many people," he said.

"They are waiting in Jakarta, they are waiting for the boat. Most of them, they are sure they will get to Australia."

"If Australia does not accept our request now, we will do again because we have nothing."

Australian Federal Police officers have arrived in Blitar to assist the investigation, while an Australian navy patrol boat and a surveillance aircraft have also been sent to join the search and rescue operation.
 

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Your Comments

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Mary - from Newtown, 5 months ago

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1612705/Visas-a-welcome-mat-for-asylum-seekers Couldn't agree more.... the people smugglers and "asylum seekers" (illegal immigrants) are having a field day with this government's policies, it's a JOKE!

budvv

Marty - from perth, 5 months ago

You've just got to look at the money these people paid to get on the boat. Refugees?........I don't think so.

Reopen Nauru

Emily - from Sydney, 5 months ago

Howard's Pacific Solution was brought in in 2001; Rudd abolished it in 2009 - see the differences between policies: http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bn/sp/boatarrivals.htm#_Toc285178607 It would be a lot worse if the Greens ran this country, heaven help if they did.

Illegal immigrants

Sol - from Perth, 5 months ago

Many of these boat people are genuine refugees as has been shown by subsequent processing in the past (Going back to Tampa, it was found that 90% of them were genuine refugees and were ultimately allowed into Australia ) For those who are not refugees, they have managed to earn enough money in poor, and often war-torn, countries to pay people smugglers, then take enormous risks over the ocean. Personally I would rather have these courageous/enterprising people as migrants than many others.

Wondering

Wondering - from Brisbane, 5 months ago

Why is Australia so concerned about illegal immigrants who sink in another countries waters? The Greens say they are all fleeing their own countries for their lives. I am sure that many of them are just looking for an "easy" way into Australia.

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