A boat carrying more than 100 asylum-seekers sank 140 miles north of the Australian territory of Christmas Island Tuesday morning.
An asylum seeking boat carrying more than 100 passengers sank 140 miles north of the Australian territory of Christmas Island Tuesday morning. Officials of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority(AMSA) have initiated a search and rescue operation with additional support from an Australian Customs Dash-8 aircraft, a navy ship and a merchant vessel.
The agency said that it received a request for help from an onboard person and a Royal Australian Navy ship in the area responded.
"HMAS Parramatta arrived on scene at around 12:20 pm (0230 GMT) and reported the vessel had foundered," AMSA spokeswoman said in a statement, Associated Press reports.
Christmas Island is located nearly 310 miles south of Jakarta, Indonesia. It is a well-known destination for asylum seekers who pay smugglers to bring them to Australian shores. These people over-crowd in wobbly boats, which are not safe. Several hundred people have died en route in recent years.
Australia has taken significant measures to put an end to such risky journeys. Last month, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor party announced that all asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat will be detained in Papua New Guinea and their status will be determined there.
According to a latest report from The Guardian, the AMSA along with additional crew support rescued 106 passengers. Two people were reportedly injured. The search and rescue operation is ongoing looking for more survivors from the accident.
