Fears for 100 Afghan asylum seekers bound for Australia
More than 100 Afghan asylum-seekers who left Indonesia by boat for Australia three months ago have not been heard from and are assumed to have been lost at sea.
More than 100 Afghan asylum-seekers who left Indonesia by boat for Australia three months ago have not been heard from and are assumed to have been lost at sea, refugee activists said on Sunday.The boat is one of many that left Indonesia for Australia in 2009 bringing hundreds of asylum-seekers, mainly from war-ravaged countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.It has left Australia's processing facility on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean struggling to cope. Critics have blamed a soft stance on asylum-seekers by Australia's labour government for the influx.Relatives in Australia have heard no news from the 105 ethnic Hazaras who left Indonesia on October 2 in a voyage organised by a people-smuggling syndicate, activist Hassan Ghulam told Reuters. Three Indonesian crew were also aboard.Ghulam said he had contacted Australian immigration and border protection authorities but they had given no information.Australia receives a fraction of what the United Nations estimates to be around 15 million refugees globally, but the issue divides Australian voters and has the potential to dent Prime Minister Kevin Rudd''s high popularity in opinion polls.