The 2012 Indian Ocean migrant boat disaster occurred on 21 June 2012, when a boat carrying more than 200 refugees capsized in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and the Australian external territory of Christmas Island. 109 people were rescued, 17 bodies were recovered, and approximately 70 people remain missing. [1] The boat's passengers were all male and were mostly from Afghanistan. [2]
The boat was discovered by an Australian Customs and Border Protection Service surveillance plane 109 nautical miles (202 km) south of Java at about 3:00 pm AWST. [3] The boat had sent out a distress call on 19 June, but it failed to identify its location. On 20 June, the boat sent out a second distress call, at which point Australian authorities advised the boat to return to Indonesia. The boat was spotted later that day by a surveillance plane as it continued toward Australian waters. "No visual signs of distress" were observed by the plane's crew. [2] Australian authorities then began to prepare to respond when the boat would enter their territory, but it capsized before leaving Indonesian waters. [2]
About 40 survivors were found clinging to the upturned boat, while others were found on floating debris up to four miles (6 km) from the disaster's location. [2] Survivors and bodies of the deceased were transported to Christmas Island aboard the patrol boat HMAS Wollongong. [3] Rescue efforts were coordinated by Indonesian authorities with assistance from Australia. [4] Eight Australian and Indonesian ships, plus five Australian aircraft, were still searching for additional survivors on 22 June. [2] Australian Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare stated that the prospect of finding additional survivors was "increasingly grim", due to rough seas. [2]
Human traffickers often disable their boats once they have entered Australian waters and send out distress calls to have their "cargo" picked up. [2] Christmas Island is a popular target for asylum seekers, whose journeys sometimes end in tragedy. In a statement, the U.N. refugee agency said the tragedy "reinforces the need for renewed international solidarity and cooperation to find protection options for people". [2]
The Territory of Christmas Island is an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is located approximately 350 kilometres south of Java and Sumatra and about 1,550 km (840 nmi) north-west of the closest point on the Australian mainland. It has an area of 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi). The territory derives its name from its discovery on Christmas Day 1643 by Captain William Mynors.
In late August 2001, the Howard government of Australia refused permission for the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa, carrying 433 rescued refugees and 5 crew, to enter Australian waters. This triggered an Australian political controversy in the lead-up to the 2001 federal election, and a diplomatic dispute between Australia and Norway.
SIEV X was the name assigned by Australian authorities to an Indonesian fishing boat carrying over 400 asylum seekers en route to Australia, which capsized in international waters with great loss of life on 19 October 2001. SIEV stands for Suspected Irregular Entry Vessel and is the acronym used by the surveillance authority for any boat that has entered Australian waters without prior authorisation. The X is a designation used where a tracking number has not yet been assigned, in accordance with Australian Government orders.
Suspected Irregular Entry Vessel (SIEV) was the operational term used by the Australian Defence Force and Australian Coastwatch for maritime vessels that appeared to be attempting to reach Australia clandestinely.
The MV Oceanic Viking was an armed patrol vessel of the Australian Customs Service. Originally built in 1996 as the offshore supply vessel Viking Lady for Norwegian shipping company Eidesvik Shipping AS, the ship was converted into a cable layer in 2000 and renamed Oceanic Viking. The ship was chartered to the Australian Customs Service through P&O Marine Services from 2004 to 2010. In 2011, it was purchased by A&P Tyne, Isle of Man, and renamed European Supporter.
The December 2007 Seferihisar, Turkey migrant boat disaster occurred in the night of 8 December 2007 when a 15-meter dinghy boat carrying illegal migrants who were trying to reach the island of Chios, Greece, capsized due to bad sea conditions off the coast of Seferihisar, İzmir Province, western Turkey, resulting in forty to sixty deaths, sources varying on the exact number of casualties, among the boat's occupants. It is the single largest maritime incident in terms of loss of lives and involving migrants in the Aegean Sea.
North West Point Immigration Detention Centre, formerly Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre is an Australian immigration detention facility located on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
On 15 December 2010, an Indonesian fishing boat carrying 89 asylum seekers and 3 crew members sank after being dashed against the rocks near Rocky Point, Christmas Island, an external Australian territory. 50 people died and 42 were rescued. The incident was the worst civilian maritime disaster in Australia in more than a century.
The Christmas Island Resort, often called the Christmas Island Casino, is a holiday resort on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the north-eastern Indian Ocean about 380 kilometres (240 mi) south of Java and 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) north-west of the Australian mainland. The resort, including an integrated casino, opened in late 1993. The casino was generally profitable, with gross profits from casino operations peaking at $153.7 million in 1994-95. Overall, however, the casino and resort struggled to make profits and, after being badly affected by the Asian Financial Crisis, it was closed on 23 April 1998.
Asylum in Australia has been granted to many refugees since 1945, when half a million Europeans displaced by World War II were given asylum. Since then, there have been periodic waves of asylum seekers from South East Asia and the Middle East, with government policy and public opinion changing over the years.
Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB) is a border protection operation led by the Australian Border Force, aimed at stopping maritime arrivals of asylum seekers to Australia. The operation is the outcome of a 2013 federal election policy of the Coalition, which commenced on 18 September 2013 after the election of the Abbott government. The operation has implemented a "zero tolerance" posture towards what it has termed "Illegal Maritime Arrivals" − a change in terminology from the previous government's "Irregular Maritime Arrivals" − in Australia, in conjunction with mandatory detention in offshore detention facilities.
On 3 October 2013, a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. It was reported that the boat had sailed from Misrata, Libya, but that many of the migrants were originally from Eritrea, Somalia and Ghana. An emergency response involving the Italian Coast Guard resulted in the rescue of 155 survivors. On 12 October it was reported that the confirmed death toll after searching the boat was 359, but that further bodies were still missing; a figure of "more than 360" deaths was later reported.
In September 2014, it was announced by the International Organization for Migration that a ship sank off the Malta coast on September 11, 2014, killing around 500 migrants. There were eleven survivors. The ship left Damietta, Egypt, on September 6 and sank five days later on September 11. Two Palestinian survivors of the wreck accuse the traffickers of intentionally sinking the vessel after the refugees would not agree to transfer to a different ship.
Qabeit, also Qabaait or Kabiit, is a village in Akkar Governorate, Lebanon. The population is Sunni Muslims.
On 24 November 2021, an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants from France to the United Kingdom capsized in the English Channel causing the deaths of 27 of the 30 people on board. It is believed to be the deadliest incident in the English Channel since the International Organization for Migration began collecting data in 2014.
On 14 June 2023, an Italy-bound fishing trawler smuggling migrants sank in international waters in the part of the Mediterranean known as the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Pylos, Messenia, Greece. The boat, named Adriana, which had a capacity of 400 people, carried an estimated 400 to 750 migrants, mostly from Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and some from Afghanistan. After departing from Tobruk, Libya, on 10 June, concerns were raised by 13 June, with the vessel then located in the Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) zone assigned to Greece. The Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) helicopter and later the HCG vessel ΠΠΛΣ-920 arrived on scene, took aerial photos of the vessel, made offers of assistance that were allegedly refused, then remained there as an observer until the boat capsized and sank. After the Adriana had sunk "close to the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea", the HCG and the military initiated a massive search and rescue operation. One hundred and four men were rescued, and 82 bodies were recovered. By 18 June, officials had acknowledged that over 500 people were "presumed dead."
8°30′S105°45′E / 8.500°S 105.750°E
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