All,
Stay tuned for the Gillard blames Abbott and Abbott blames Gillard show.
Jenny Haines
Huge toll as overcrowded asylum ship sinks
Ali Kotarumalos, SMH.
December 18, 2011 - 9:27AM
Read later.A wooden ship suspected to be heading to Australia and carrying more than 200 asylum seekers, many of them from the Middle East, has sunk off Indonesia's main island of Java, local media report.
So far only 33 people have been rescued.
Police blamed the Saturday accident on overloading, telling the official news agency Antara that the vessel appeared to have been carrying more than twice its capacity.
Advertisement: Story continues below One of the survivors, Esmat Adine, told Antara the ship started rocking from side to side, triggering widespread panic.
Because people were so tightly packed, they had no where to go, said the 24-year-old Afghan migrant.
"That made the boat even more unstable and eventually it sank," he said.
Adine said that he and others survived by clinging to parts of the broken vessel until they were picked up by local fishermen.
He estimated that more than 40 children were on the ship. It was not immediately clear if any were rescued.
Indonesia, a sprawling archipelagic nation of 240 million people, has more than 18,000 islands and thousands of kilometres of unpatrolled coastline, making it a key transit point for smuggling migrants.
Those on board Saturday - apparently heading to Australia - were from Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
The private television station Metro TV reported that 33 people had been found alive and that perhaps 215 others were still missing.
Last month a ship carrying about 70 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan capsized off the southern coast of Central Java; at least eight people died.
AP
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/huge-toll-as-overcrowded-asylum-ship-sinks-20111218-1p0g4.html#ixzz1gpxjU15T
About Me
- JENNY'S RED NEWS
- Dear Fellow Bloggers, For some time I have thought about starting a left of centre news and commentary service and I have tried to do this by using email. But as some good, but email overloaded friends have suggested, a better way to go may be by blogging. So here it is! Jenny's Red News. My primary interests are left of centre politics and the very important question of how can we get left of centre parties, groups and grouplets in Australia working together more co-operatively. The right of centre predominates politics in this country at the present time, and they are on the march. We on the left of centre need to work together more co-operatively and constructively to put the left of centre agenda out there, for the perusal and consumption of the Australian people. Particular topics that will be reported on and on which comments are welcome are: Industrial relations - Opposition to Workchoices Refugee and Asylum Seekers Human Rights Civil Liberties Opposition to the Welfare to Work Changes Health System Reform Aboriginal Health and Reconciliation Jenny Haines posted by JENNY'S RED NEWS at 12:50 AM 0 comments