A number of asylum seekers jumped overboard after Australian navy officers boarded the ship they were sailing in today.
The vessel was intercepted with around 300 people aboard who are the latest in a stream of mainly Muslim asylum seekers whose fate has turned illegal immigration into a major issue in Australia’s general election next month.
Navy officers boarded the boat after it entered Australian waters 120 nautical miles off Christmas Island, south of the main Indonesian island of Java.
Australian navy officers were attempting - so far without success - to persuade the intercepted boat to return to international waters, a government spokeswoman said.
She said some of the boat people, in their apparent desperation to seek asylum, had thrown several children overboard at one point and jumped after them into the water. All the boat people are now back on board their vessel.
If the asylum seekers refused to return to international waters, the navy would probably take them ashore on Christmas Island, a remote Australian outpost in the Indian Ocean, the spokeswoman said.
Prime Minister John Howard, seeking a third term for his conservative coalition in the November 10th election, has seen his popularity soar after taking a tough line in recent weeks against a tide of mostly Middle Eastern and Afghan boat people.
The coalition was badly trailing the opposition Labor party until August, when Mr Howard ordered troops to board a Norwegian freighter, the Tampa, to stop 433 boat people it had rescued from swimming ashore.
A similarly hard stance since then against several other boats carrying about 1,000 illegal immigrants has won back conservative voters in droves, giving the coalition a lead over Labour in opinion polls of eight percentage points.
Under tough new laws pushed through parliament on September 26th, the Christmas, Cocos and Ashmore Islands, off Australia's remote northwest coast, are not considered Australian territories for migration purposes.