Christmas Island stranding: police scour jungle for missing asylum seekers
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Version 0 of 1. The Australian federal police are searching for nine asylum seekers missing in heavy jungle on the eastern coast of Christmas Island after a boat sank on Monday, leaving them stranded on a remote beach for the past three days. The vessel was carrying about 28 people but the rest have been accounted for. Most are being held in immigration detention facilities on the island, the immigration and border protection minister, Scott Morrison, has confirmed. The head of the Union of Christmas Island Workers, Gordon Thomson, told Guardian Australia about eight or nine of the asylum seekers on board were found by police wandering the North/South Baseline road on Thursday afternoon. Those found by police were all Rohingyan asylum seekers, it is understood. The asylum seekers are understood to have washed up on Dolly Beach, a remote beach on the eastern coast of the island that has access to fresh water. Thomson said the only way to get off the beach was a “steep climb” out. Morrison said in a statement there were no casualties arising from the sinking, but one asylum seeker was being cared for at Christmas Island hospital after sustaining minor injuries. The AFP are continuing the search in heavy jungle for the nine remaining asylum seekers. Labor’s immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, questioned how the boat had reached the island undetected. “The question today is with all of that focus and discipline, how is it possible that a boat arrived on Christmas Island without detection?” he said. “How is it possible that asylum seekers could be on Christmas Island since Monday without the government knowing about it? What is clear is the government is not in control.” Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |