M

ore than 120 people were found adrift in Central Java and Aceh this week as boats carrying Australia-bound asylum seekers have continued to arrive in Indonesian waters.

As many as 61 asylum seekers from the Middle East, attempting to seek refuge in Australia, via Christmas Island, got stranded off Cilacap, Central Java, as their wooden boat encountered engine trouble in the Indian Ocean.

They were later rescued by Liberian-flag tanker Chemtrans Rugen and taken to Tanjung Intan Port in Cilacap.

Cilacap National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) post coordinator Tri Joko Proyono said the asylum seekers consisted of 13 women and nine children.

The immigrants were evacuated to a temporary shelter at the former Cilacap Immigration Office on Jl.
S. Parman.

On June 7, 101 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Vietnam also got stranded in
Cilacap. They too were en route to Australia through Christmas Island.

Meanwhile in Aceh, 66 Australia-bound asylum seekers from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Vietnam, were found stranded off Aceh waters after their wooden boat broke down off Calang, Aceh Jaya, recently.

'€œWe have been drifting at sea for four days. We got stranded after our boat'€™s engine broke down and lost its way due to the thick fog at sea,'€ said refugee Rahman, 24.

The 66 asylum seekers are currently being sheltered in a government facility owned by the Aceh Jaya regency administration.

According to Rahman, nearly 80 percent of them hailed from Myanmar, which they fled due to politically instability. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had issued them refugee identity cards in Malaysia.

According to refugee Abdul Wajad, they were sheltered in Malaysia for six months but were not allowed to work, so they decided to leave Malaysia and move on to Australia along with other asylum seekers.