THREE AFGHAN asylum seekers were killed yesterday when their boat exploded off Australia’s northwest coast.
Two others are missing and 30 injured in what has been claimed as sabotage through the deliberate dousing of the boat with petrol.
The incident happened in Ashmore Reef, 240 nautical miles from the Australian mainland. There were 49 asylum seekers, all male and including some children, on the small wooden fishing boat, which was being escorted by two navy ships to Christmas Island after being intercepted the previous day by authorities.
An undisclosed number of Australian naval officers were also on the boat, but were not injured.
Medical staff on HMAS Childers and HMAS Albany treated the wounded. The worst cases were flown by helicopter to Truscott airbase in Western Australia. From there, the casualties were to be flown overnight to hospitals in Darwin, Perth and Broome. Those less injured will be brought under naval escort to Darwin.
A political row over the incident was simmering last night between the Western Australia state government, controlled by the Liberal Party, and the federal government, controlled by Labor.
Western Australian premier Colin Barnett said the fire started after the boat was deliberately doused in petrol. “It is understood that persons on the boat spread petrol and that ignited, causing an explosion,” he said. However, federal home affairs minister Bob Debus refused to speculate on details of the incident until an inquiry has been carried out.
“If the premier of Western Australia chooses to speculate without having the kind of evidence that we think will be necessary to draw a final conclusion, that is up to him,” he said.
An angered Mr Debus went further when interviewed later on ABC television, saying: “I am not going to allow this particular incident to be politicised as some incidents have been politicised in the past, often to our national shame.”
This was almost certainly a reference to the “children overboard” scandal of 2001 – when then Liberal prime minister John Howard, in the lead-up to an election, falsely said refugees had thrown their children off a boat. The Liberals were returned with an increased majority.
The latest refugee boat is the fourth to arrive in Australian waters in the last month and the sixth this year, which has led to claims that the Labor government is soft on illegal immigration.
Federal opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said the government “has made changes to the rules and procedures dealing with unlawful asylum seekers . . . and people smuggling”.
He added: “There is no doubt the impression had been created that we are more accommodating or taking a less hard line on people smuggling than we have in the past.” The incident had shown the dangers of people-smuggling. “It puts lives at risk – the lives of those that venture in the boats and, as we can see, the lives of Australian servicemen and servicewomen.”