Police Still Searching for Missing Persons in Boat Accident

Jakarta (Antara) - Police are still searching for persons who were missing after a boat carrying more than two hundred suspected asylum seekers capsized off the West Java coast of Cianjur recently on its way to Christmas Island. Out of a total of 204 passengers "200 have been found including 11 who died," National Police haed of public relations division Inspector General Ronny F Sompie said here on Thursday. The police are still searching for the four others including a skipper and boat crew members, he said. At around 8pm on Tuesday a boat carrying 204 suspected asylum seekers from Iran, Iraq and Sri Lanka capsized in the waters off the coast of Cianjur in West Java while on its way to Australia. "The boat leaked while it was in the middle of the sea causing the water to flow into the boat making the passengers scramble for lifeboats and some of them swam for safety," he said. He said the police are now investigating why the boat that serves a route from Makassar, South Sulawesi, to Cilacap, Central Java, could be used to carry the asylum seekers. The boat passengers that have been saved are now being accommodated in Bogor and Sukabumi in West Java for further processing. Meanwhile the bodies of the boat passengers that had been found have been taken to the police hospital in Kramatjati, Jakarta, for an autopsy. (*)