163 Feared Dead in Australian Boat Tragedy

C A N B E R R A, Australia, Dec. 13 -- Up to 163 boatpeople en routeto Australia from Indonesia are believed to have drowned whentheir two vessels sank in stormy seas, Australian ImmigrationMinister Philip Ruddock said today.

He said Australia was investigating reports that a Japanesetanker had picked up four survivors from one boat.

The vessel was believed to be carrying 87 people when itwent missing between Indonesia’s southern islands and AshmoreIslands, an outcrop of reefs about 370 miles offAustralia’s remote northwest.

Bad Weather Blamed

“The weather conditions to the north of Australia have beenatrocious, and there are reports that another boat, carrying 80passengers, has also disappeared en route,” Ruddock said in astatement.

Tropical Cyclone Sam built in intensity off Australia’snorthwest last week before it crossed land late on Friday.

While the nationalities of the boatpeople were not known,Ruddock said most illegal immigrants who head to Australia viaIndonesia were of Middle Eastern origin.

“Recently we’ve seen people from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq,Jordan, Syria and a small number of Palestinians,” he said.

Many pay people smugglers before making the journey inoften unstable craft.

Trying to Reach Australia

The boats were believed to have left Indonesia last weekand were expected to have arrived at Ashmore at the weekend.The 149-mile sea crossing to Australia from Timorisland typically takes two to three days.

Ruddock said he had asked the Immigration Department’sCoast Watch service, the Customs service, the navy and theAustralian Federal Police to investigate and determine whetherthere were any further survivors.

“We are doing everything in our powers to verify thesereports,” Ruddock said, adding that a search and rescueoperation would be nearly impossible given the scantinformation.

“We’re dealing here with a group of people whose intentionwas to arrive without notice, clandestinely, on vessels thatreally don’t have the sort of navigational devices andidentification equipment that would enable a search and rescueoperation to be able to be mounted,” he said.