Asylum boat sinks on way to Australia

18 Feb 2013, 6:18 am   -   Source: AAP
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Sri Lankan police said the rescued boat people claimed they were in a group of 130 who set out in three boats just over two months ago with the intention of reaching Australia. (File: AAP)

Sri Lankan police said the rescued boat people claimed they were in a group of 130 who set out in three boats just over two months ago with the intention of reaching Australia. (File: AAP)

Burma nationals on their way to seek asylum in Australia have been rescued from a sinking boat off Sri Lanka after two months at sea.

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A boatload of Burma nationals rescued from a sinking wooden vessel off Sri Lanka's east coast after two months at sea had been trying to reach Australia, local police say.

The boat people, plucked to safety by Sri Lanka's navy on Saturday, were taken to the southern port of Galle where they were rushed to hospital to be treated for dehydration and starvation, police said in a statement on Sunday.

It said 32 people were rescued, although initial reports from naval units had suggested there were 38.

A spokesman for Burma's embassy in Colombo said they were waiting to speak with the boat people before deciding on a course of action.

"We have been told of 32 people rescued and we are waiting to speak to them," embassy spokesman Aung Soe Moe told AFP.

Sri Lankan police said the rescued boat people claimed they were in a group of 130 who set out in three boats just over two months ago with the intention of reaching Australia.

The fate of the others was not known.

Saturday's rescue was the second in less than two weeks.

On February 3, the navy rescued 138 Bangladeshi and Burma nationals from a sinking boat. One passenger was found dead.

Local police officials said it was unclear if those identified as Burma nationals were Rohingya - members of a stateless Muslim minority described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted groups - who had fled the country.

An explosion of tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities in Burma's western state of Rakhine since June 2012 has triggered a seaborne exodus of Rohingya.

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Your Comments

Who Cares

Darkie McMillan - from Southwest Coast of WA, 3 months ago

Please tell someone who cares as most of us are getting sick to death of hearing about these people and all the dramas they are creating for themselves..

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