Three asylum seekers killed as huge wave hits boat off Java coast

By Indonesia correspondent George Roberts
ABC
10 December 2013

An asylum seeker boat bound for Australia has got into difficulty off the Indonesian coast, leaving three people dead.

Indonesia's search and rescue agency Basarnas says the boat was off Cipunaga on the south coast of west Java when it was hit by huge wave about 6.00am yesterday (local time).

The boat limped back towards the coast and made it ashore.

Locals were the first to raise the alarm, alerting the Indonesian navy.

Iwan Ramdan from West Java Search and Rescue says 27 people were found alive and three bodies were recovered.

He says those on board were asylum seekers from Bangladesh and Myanmar who were attempting to get to Christmas Island.

The search has been called off because everyone is accounted for.

Survivors are in the custody of Indonesian immigration officials.

X-URL:http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-10/three-asylum-seekers-killed-off-java-coast/5145636

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