'Hijacked' refugee boat found

Thousands of refugees want to reach Australia

Indonesian police say a boat reportedly hijacked last week by about 170 asylum seekers who were trying to reach Australia has been found on a small island.

They wanted to go to Australia but are now on the island under our surveillance

Police official

A police official said residents of the island, which lies off the eastern island of Sumbawa, discovered the asylum seekers - believed to include Iraqis and Afghans - when their boat ran aground after developing engine problems.

Sumbawa's deputy police chief commissioner, Ishaka Usman, told Reuters news agency: "Locals first found the immigrants on Saturday night. They were trying to find water and food.

"They wanted to go to Australia but are now on the island under our surveillance."

He said the boat's captain had remained on the vessel and denied it had been hijacked, even though one crew member who fled the vessel and was rescued by the Indonesian navy said it had been taken over by asylum seekers.

The navy had been searching for the boat, which disappeared after leaving the Sulawesi port of Makassar, about 1,400 km north-east of Jakarta, on Wednesday.

The Australian navy had also been searching for the boat, but said it was not convinced it had been hijacked.

The incident highlights a growing regional crisis over the thousands of Middle Eastern and Afghan asylum seekers who embark on the dangerous journey to reach Australia from Indonesia each year.

A boat sank off Indonesia's main island of Java 10 days ago, killing 350 asylum seekers. Only 44 people survived.

Now Australia processes refugees on Pacific islands

Two police officers have been arrested for protecting the smugglers who organised the ill-fated voyage.

The tragedy has prompted Jakarta to call for a regional conference over the issue of asylum seekers.

Australia, which is currently in the middle of a campaign for next month's general election, has taken a hard line against boat people, and since August it has refused to accept them.

It has subsequently turned away about 1,500 migrants, sending them to other countries - including Nauru, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea - to have their claims processed.

Opposition leader Kim Beazley said on Friday that the policy would be no different under a Labour government.