More Bodies Found in Indonesia Boat Sinking as Abu Saleh Runs Affairs from Prison
The death toll from the sinking of an Australia-bound asylum-seeker boat off Indonesia rose to 39 Monday, an official said, although it was not yet clear the number of Lebanese who died in the incident.
The boat, which was estimated to be carrying between 80 and 120 Middle Eastern asylum seekers, went down on Friday in rough seas off Indonesia's main island of Java. It was headed for Australia's Christmas Island.
Twenty-eight people escaped alive as the boat foundered but more are still believed to be missing.
Search teams found seven more bodies this morning, two of them are children, Warsono, police chief in the Agrabinta area of Java, where the boat went down, told Agence France Presse.
The official, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said this was on top of 11 bodies discovered on Sunday as the search teams scoured the coast.
The total death toll was now 39, he said, adding there was little prospect of finding more survivors.
The Lebanese foreign ministry said Sunday there were 68 Lebanese, including children, on board the ill-fated vessel and that 18 survived the ordeal while at least 29 were still missing.
Rescuers have been unable to deploy boats to hunt in the rough seas, with waves at heights of four to six meters.
According to An Nahar newspaper published on Monday, the Lebanese asylum-seekers were lured by an Iraqi called Abu Saleh, who has previously helped around 500 Lebanese mainly from the impoverished northern region of Akkar to flee to Australia.
Several members of his ring from Akkar and the northern city of Tripoli have been paid commissions to convince people to seek asylum in Australia, it said.
The Iraqi, whose real name is Hussein Hmayyed Maymouneh, 34, has been serving a life sentence in the Indonesian capital Jakarta for the past 10 months for killing a Saudi man in a nightclub, it said.
But Maymouneh is running his business from inside the prison after he was granted access to a telephone and internet, said An Nahar. He is even allowed to leave the prison for around 12 hours once a week.
Abu Saleh has been running the people smuggling gang for the past eight years in return for 10,000 dollars on each person.
Their journey starts by traveling to Jakarta where members of his gang take them to the shore and help them escape to Christmas Island.
Australia's new Prime Minister Tony Abbott arrived in Jakarta Monday on a two-day visit, his first overseas trip since becoming premier, where his tough refugee policies are expected to be the focus of discussions.
He has put in place a military-led operation known as Sovereign Borders, which involves turning boats around when it is safe to do so, as he seeks to stem the flow of asylum seekers arriving in Australia.
Hundreds have died in recent years attempting the journey after boarding rickety, wooden boats in Indonesia.
But just a few weeks after winning power, Abbot's new government is facing criticism over Friday's accident after survivors claimed their calls for help to Australian rescuers went unheeded.
Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann insisted at the weekend that Australia had provided "all appropriate assistance.”
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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