Brendan Nicholson and Paige Taylor
A DESPERATE telephone call for help from a group of 67 Afghan asylum-seekers lost in the Indian Ocean to the Jakarta office of the Australian Federal Police set off the dramatic night-time rescue of the last boat to beat the Rudd government's deadline on refugee applications.
The plea for help came from a mobile or satellite phone used by one of the leaders of the group of men, women and children aboard the wooden Indonesian fishing boat about 148km east-southeast of Christmas Island.
The asylum-seekers, bound for Christmas Island, said they were lost and feared for their lives. The police relayed the distress call to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
Surveillance technology used by border protection command to seek out smugglers of people, drugs and other contraband was used to pinpoint the boat's location and the RAN gunboat, HMAS Wollongong, made the dash to help.
Several sailors from Wollongong boarded the vessel at 8.42pm on Thursday.
They found 70 people on board, including pregnant women and children, some of them five or younger.
The passengers said they were seeking asylum and asked to be taken to Australia.
The ADF's deputy chief of joint operations, Allan du Toit, said the vessel appeared to be fully seaworthy and Wollongong began to escort it to Christmas Island.
Rear-Admiral du Toit said the passengers indicated they were happy to remain on board their vessel.
But just after 2am the Australian sailors on the Indonesian vessel signalled to the Wollongong that the engine had failed and the boat was taking in water.
Wollongong moved in close and sent across rescue teams in rigid inflatable boats. They collected about 16 passengers, including the women and children, from the deck of the Indonesian vessel, which then began to sink quickly.
The passengers, crew and the Australian sailors, all kitted out in navy lifejackets, leapt from the boat into the ocean.
They were rescued within minutes and some were treated for shock and minor ailments.
By this stage, a second gunboat, HMAS Broome, had arrived.
Rear Admiral du Toit said an English-speaking asylum-seeker picked up by Wollongong assured the crew that all members of his group had been saved.
He said those rescued had no significant health issues.
Yesterday, island residents said one of those brought ashore had had a suspected heart attack.
Wollongong left Broome to continue the search in case anyone had been missed in the darkness, and the RAAF sent an APC-3 Orion maritime patrol plane to the scene to carry out a wider search.
"Obviously, rescue operations like this are always extremely difficult and the fact this rescue took place in the dark is a credit to all involved," Rear Admiral du Toit said.
A navy investigation is under way to find out whether the vessel was sabotaged or sank for another reason.
The Australian
