ASYLUM SEEKERS ON RUN
Fishing boat runs aground in Daintree waters
A DESPERATE search was under way last night for at least 20 suspected asylum seekers on the run in the Daintree rainforest after a foreign fishing boat ran aground off Cape Kimberley (below).
A spokesman for the Department of Home Affairs told the Cairns Post members of the Australian Border Force were responding to “what we believe to be an illegal fishing vessel”.
“We can confirm that 11 people have been located,” the spokesman said.
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, 11 people were yesterday detained, some wearing what appeared to be designer clothing 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 newly minted Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who was famously 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 Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson would only confirm Border Force was “responding to what we believe to be an illegal fishing vessel”.
The fishing trawler last night remained partially submerged about 150m off the beach, with a large diesel oil spill trailing into 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 mouth of the world famous Daintree River yesterday.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority requested helicopter support to fly to the scene about 11am.
The boat could be seen to be 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.
It is understood the police dog squad was also deployed.
Seven men and two women, who appeared to be in good health, were well 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 illegal immigrants, rather than 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 FLIR (infra-red) equipment, fixed wing aircraft and drones that patrol the Torres Strait and it is unclear how the foreign fishing boat slipped under the radar.
In 1999, a 35-metre cargo boat with 26 Chinese nationals on board ran aground, just 10km from the Cairns CBD.
For three days – like this latest incident – it had negotiated the inner shipping route of the Great Barrier Reef without being intercepted in Australian waters.
Local newsagent Bruce Sharples contacted authorities after he was asked to call a taxi for some of the boat people, some of whom were dressed in suits and carrying suitcases.
Less than a month later, a 40-metre tug boat with at least 58 illegal Chinese immigrants on board chugged down Australia’s east coast for ten days before grounding at Scotts Head, near Nambucca Heads.
In mid-June, authorities intercepted the 33rd boat since the start of Operation Sovereign Borders in 2013.
It is understood the large but basic vessel, which was identified by Australian authorities by air and sea surveillance, was uncomfortably close to Australian territory before it was intercepted by the Navy.