THURSDAY, April 25, 2024
nationthailand

Death toll hits 36 from sunken refugee boat

Death toll hits 36 from sunken refugee boat

At least 36 bodies have been found after a boat carrying Middle Eastern refugees bound for Australia sank off Indonesia's Java island, police said.

Searchers found four more bodies yesterday, three days after the boat hit a large rock and capsized off West Java, said Jari Juned, a police officer in Cianjur district.
Nine children were among the dead, he said.
Twenty-eight people survived the accident, but the number of people still missing was unknown, the officer said. Officials said survivors estimated 80 people were on the boat.
“The survivors gave conflicting information,” the police officer said. “They also said they did not know each other.” One survivor told Lebanese television station LBCI that most of those on boat were Lebanese.
Indonesia has for years been a transit point for undocumented migrants seeking to reach Australia by boat, often with the help of people smugglers.
More than 50,000 refugees have arrived in Australia by boat since 2008, and an estimated 10,000 are in Indonesia hoping to make the trip.
 
 
 
 
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