Asylum seekers on run
Search on after trawler runs aground north of Cairns
A DESPERATE search was under way last night for at least 20 suspected asylum seekers on the run in dense rainforest, after a foreign fishing boat ran aground north of Cairns.
In extraordinary scenes captured by News Corp, 11 people were yesterday detained as they sat on an isolated beach near the crocodile-infested Daintree River, surrounded by Australian Border Force officials and police.
A search was under way for at least 20 others who escaped into nearby mangroves.
In what could be the first test for new Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who was behind the “stop the boats” campaign, it is understood Queensland Police suspect the people to be asylum seekers and at least one of them revealed he was a cab driver.
However, a Foreign Affairs spokesman would only confirm Border Force was “responding to what we believe to be an illegal fishing vessel”.
The trawler last night remained partially submerged about 150m off the beach, with a large diesel oil spill trailing in to the coast near Snapper Island, 18km north of Port Douglas. It is understood a local fishing boat towed the vessel into deeper water after it was found run aground at the e mouth of the Daintree River.
Australian Maritime Safety y Authority requested helicopter er support to fly to the scene in n the pristine waters of the inner Great Barrier Reef, known for large crocodiles and hammerhead sharks, about 11am.
The boat was heavily loaded with blue barrels used for sea cucumbers on the forward deck and the entire perimeter of the roof of the trawler gantry was decked out with squid lanterns. About nine detainees could be seen sitting on the beach, under guard of armed police and ABF officers, next to three police 4WDs.
Seven men and two women, who appeared to be in good health, were dressed in jeans, jackets, caps and footwear, with their luggage at their feet.
Police told local fishermen at the site the group had claimed to be asylum seekers and it is understood senior officers were treating them as such, not as illegal fishers.
It is understood Border Force officials were waiting for an interpreter to help determine the group’s motives.
Border Force has a fleet of two helicopters with night vision and infra-red equipment, fixed wing aircraft and drones that patrol the Torres Strait.
It is unclear how the foreign fishing boat slipped under the radar.
In mid-June, authorities intercepted the 33rd boat since the start of Operation Sovereign Borders in 2013.