Oliver Laughland theguardian.com, Sunday 29 June 2014
Australian customs believed to have intercepted vessel carrying Tamils but immigration minister refuses to comment
Scott Morrison arrives at the press conference in Melbourne on Saturday. Photograph: David Crosling/AAP
A boat said to be carrying more than 150 Tamil asylum seekers including young children has not been heard from for nearly 24 hours as speculation mounts that it has been intercepted by Australian customs.
On Saturday the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, refused to confirm the boat’s existence despite numerous reporters and asylum advocates having spoken to people on board.
It appears to be one of a number of boats possibly intercepted by Australia in the past two weeks. Guardian Australia revealed on Monday that a boat was understood to have made two emergency calls to search and rescue in New Zealand after getting into difficulty off the north-west coast of Australia. Another boat departing from Java carrying 50 asylum seekers was reported on Saturday.
Ian Rintoul, of the Refugee Action Coalition, told Guardian Australia he had last spoken to a passenger on board the boat carrying Tamils about 24 hours ago and had been told there were 37 children on board, including a one-year-old baby, and 32 women.
Rintoul said the boat was leaking oil and had run out of diesel around 175 nautical miles from Christmas Island.
It was understood at that point that the boat had been contacted by Australian authorities and had left the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu on 13 June, meaning it had been at sea for nearly two weeks.
“They told me there were a number of sick children on board, some had been vomiting, although it wasn’t a medical emergency,” Rintoul said.
The Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan, who was on Christmas Island on Saturday night, said immigration staff on the island were “on standby waiting for instructions” and had been told both boats had been intercepted.
“They're saying that two boats have been intercepted and the ship on which they're being loaded is in Christmas Island waters,” MacTiernan told the ABC.
The Greens’ immigration spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young, said she was concerned that those on board the two boats were being held on “prison ships” rather than being brought ashore for processing.
“Where are these people?” Hanson-Young said. “They haven’t been brought ashore to Christmas Island. They should be immediately, and we should be looking after those children.”
Hanson-Young said she understood the Australian customs vessel Ocean Protector was intercepting the boat from south India.
On Sunday afternoon Christmas Island shire president Gordon Thomson told Guardian Australia there was still no sign of either boat reaching Christmas Island.
In May Guardian Australia revealed photographs from inside the Ocean Protector showing the cramped living conditions for intercepted asylum seekers. The pictures were hand-drawn by asylum seeker children on the canvas bunks.
On Sunday Morrison’s office did not respond to a request for comment. A day earlier he said in Melbourne that there were no significant incidents at sea to report. “I am advised that I have no such report to provide to you today.”
He would not confirm if there was a boat, if it was in Australian waters, or if the government had taken any action.
