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Six Chinese stranded on Indonesian island after attempting to reach Australia
Six Chinese nationals have been stranded on Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara, following a failed attempt to reach Australia in a wooden boat.
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Members of the Rote Ndao Police and Posal Papela check out a boat holding six Chinese residents who were stranded on Tuesday. The Australian Patrol boat previously drove the Chinese away from Australian territory into Indonesian waters.
(Humas Polres Rote Ndao/-)
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ix Chinese nationals have been stranded on Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), following a failed attempt to reach Australia in a wooden boat.
Before going aground on the island's shore, the boat, which sailed from the coastal province of Jiangsu in China, has reportedly been floating in the waters near Rote Timur district after an Australian patrol vessel drove it away from its territory.
Rote Ndao Police chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Wibowo said the Chinese citizens — identified as Fan Shenghong, Cui Henggo, Hang Yongsheng, Wang Sisen, Han Baolin and Chu Kaishan — were still on board their boat as of Tuesday evening and were under police custody because they did not possess complete travel documents.
"The [Chinese citizens] were previously questioned in the middle of the sea on board an Australian patrol boat for two nights before they finally got released and escorted to Indonesian waters," Bambang said on Tuesday.
Two Indonesians who accompanied the Chinese on the boat, identified as Aba and Madan — residents of East Flores and South Sulawesi, respectively — were questioned by the Rote Timur Police as they were accused of helping to smuggle the foreigners to neighboring Australia.
According to the police, the six Chinese nationals initially attempted to sail to Australia in a wooden boat identified as the KMP Indah. The journey took three nights.
After getting intercepted by the Australian authorities, the latter gave the Chinese nationals a new boat and two jerry cans of fuel after confiscating the KMP Indah.
However, they ran out of fuel just after arriving in Indonesian waters at about 8:15 a.m. Indonesian Central Time. They proceeded to drop anchor close to the FaiFua salt mine in East Rote district.
“They were found by two patrol boats from Polairud [a water and air police unit] and the Rote Navy base, which were patrolling together at that time. They found the Chinese residents when they were inspecting the boat,” Bambang said.
The police summoned health officers from Rote Ndao to see if the Chinese residents were infected by coronavirus.
“The result was negative,” he added.
The police are still coordinating with the Kupang immigration office to see if the Chinese residents could be moved to Kupang. (dpk)
