Deadly boat disaster a mystery - 澳洲

一艘載著三十九位疑似從斯里蘭卡尋求澳洲庇護的難民船在澳洲西邊沈沒，來自台

灣的漁船是第一個發現，並救起數名落水的人。後來因為油料不足，且有別的船隻

來協助搜尋之下，先行離去。


目前救起二十七人，一名確定死亡，還有十一人失蹤。


http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/03/2731755.htm

Customs and Border Protection cannot confirm that the boat which sank in
Australia's search and rescue zone was intact and afloat when it was first
seen by a commercial ship.

While 27 people - believed to be Sri Lankans - have been rescued, one person
is dead and there are grave fears for 11 still missing after their boat sank
350 nautical miles off the Cocos Islands.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) received a distress call from
the boat early on Sunday morning.

AMSA called on ships in the area to go to its aid. Nine hours later a Taiwanese
fishing boat arrived at the scene and reported that the boat was taking on
water.

Several hours after that, a liquefied natural gas carrier also turned up and
at that stage, it is believed the boat was still afloat.

Customs says it cannot confirm information obtained by the ABC that the boat
sank when the LNG carrier was only several hundred metres away and in visual
range.

Search continues
Meanwhile, a Japanese fishing boat will join the full-scale air and sea
search currently underway replacing the one from Taiwan which has left to
refuel.

The fishing boat will join the LNG tanker now carrying the majority of the
survivors, but no Australian boats are in the area.

A plane has been searching for survivors overnight and eight more are
continuing the search.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor says Australian authorities and the
commercial boats are still searching for survivors.

"At this point the focus has been on rescuing those that were in the water,
and for that reason we've now got up to seven aircraft and have now a
Japanese vessel going to the assistance of the LNG Pioneer, to provide
whatever help we can, to see whether we can rescue what could be up to 11
others," he said.

"There's been no confirmation in terms of the nationality of these passengers
rescued from sea.

"The entire focus of the commercial vessels and the Australian aircraft has
been to recover all passengers that were in the water after the vessel sunk
late Sunday night."

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