Sinking sparks rescue
By The Associated Press
SYDNEY – An urgent search and rescue mission was under way today for about two dozen people missing after their boat sank in open seas far off Australia.
A merchant ship that responded to a distress call managed to pluck 17 survivors from the Indian Ocean late Sunday and was searching for others, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said.
About 40 people were believed to be aboard the boat when went down near the Cocos Islands, sparsely populated atolls about 1,500 miles northwest of the Australian coast and about 800 miles south of Indonesia.
O’Connor said it was too early to say whether those on board were asylum seekers trying to reach Australia, though aspects of the emergency – such as an unseaworthy boat carrying so many people in waters sometimes used by human traffickers – signaled that might be the case.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority received distress signals Sunday from the boat, and the authority asked any vessels in the area to respond.
A Taiwanese fishing trawler and the merchant ship LNG Pioneer arrived in the area late Sunday and deployed life rafts and began plucking people from the water.
Comments
Show / Hide Comments
Show / Hide Comments
