news.ninemsn.com.au
Survivors of the asylum seeker boat that sank off the Indonesian coast on Saturday have revealed the ship's captain and six crew members swam away in life jackets as the vessel went under.
"The captain and six crew took the life vests and started swimming away," Saed Mohammad Zia, 18, of Pakistan told the Daily Telegraph.Indonesian police are investigating if an associate of a recently arrested people-smuggling boss dispatched the ill-fated boat that sank off the coast of Java. At least 150 people are feared dead following Saturday's disaster, 75km from land. An associate of human trafficking kingpin Sayed Abbas is believed to be responsible for sending the boat on its ill-fated journey, The Australian reports.
Indonesian authorities are believed to have identified Haji Ismail, also known as Sayed Azad or Sayed Jalal as a prime suspect, the newspaper says.
On Sunday night, only 33 people had been pulled alive from the waters.
The heavily overloaded vessel, which broke apart in heavy seas about 7am on Saturday, was carrying about 250 asylum seekers mostly from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
An official with the national search and rescue agency has told AAP the vessel had a capacity of about 100.
No comments:
Post a Comment