Boat carrying 95 Lankans intercepted

One of two boats to arrive at Christmas Island, Thursday is understood to have contained almost 100 Sri Lankans and there has been a large increase in Iranian arrivals in recent months.

The latest boat arrivals came on the eve of the three-day ALP national conference, where Australia's Immigration Minister Chris Bowen faces an assault by the Left faction over offshore processing.

The Australian understands that a boat carrying 103 people intercepted north of Christmas Island late on Wednesday contained 95 Sri Lankans and eight Iraqis, plus two Indonesian crew.

A second boat carrying 110 people was intercepted about the same time following a distress call to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. The arrival of the two boats capped one of the highest monthly figures for boat arrivals. A total of 892 people arrived last month, nearly a quarter of the 3708 people who have arrived this year. The only month Australia received more boat people was in August 2001 when 1645 asylum-seekers arrived, including the 433 rescued by the Tampa. The rush of boats follows the Australian government's announcement in October that it was effectively abandoning offshore processing, after the opposition refused to support amendments that would have restored the policy scotched by a High Court ruling in August.

- The Australian