KABUL): A boat believed to carry 72 Afghan asylum seekers sunk in waters in Indonesia while 14 of them have been rescued by fishermen near Sunda Strait, reports said on Saturday.
Heading for Australia’s Christmas Isle, those rescued said there had been 72 people on board, with some 58 Afghan still missing, according to rescue officials, who said a search for the missing was underway.
Of those rescued, 12 were taken to Jakarta for investigation on Friday and the remaining two shifted to in the immigration office of West Java’s Bogor City.
Indonesia is a transit hub for refugees from the Middle East and South Asia seeking asylum in Australia. However, the asylum seekers prefer to turn to Australia for help when their boat malfunctioned as Indonesia usually deport the refugees instead of granting them refugee status.
ma
Visits: 1
GET IN TOUCH
NEWSLETTER
SUGGEST A STORY
PAJHWOK MOBILE APP