No indication Lankans were on ill-fated boat

Ridma Dissanayake

There is no evidence to indicate that Sri Lankans were on the boat which capsized near Christmas Island when it was trying to enter Australia illegally, a government spokesman stated.

The Australian Border Protection Authority has launched a special joint mission to ascertain facts about the occupants of the ill-fated boat.

They have not informed of any Sri Lankan who may have been in that vessel. They have not yet found any evidence to indicate that Sri Lankans were also in the boat, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe said.

He said that a vessel carrying 55 illegal migrants had capsized on June 5 near Christmas Island and search operations are still going on to find is there was any Sri Lankan in the vessel. “We are in contact with the Australian authorities”, he added.

The External Affairs Ministry has already informed the Sri Lankan High Commissions in Australia and Indonesia whether there were Sri Lankans in the vessel. Sri Lankan High Commission sources in Canberra said that the vessel which met with the mishap near Christmas Island had been observed by the Australian Coast Guard on June 5 for the first time. Although, several international media reported 55 persons in that vessel drowned, the Australian Coast Guard has not yet found even one body of them.

This vessel had travelled in North West seas off Christmas Island and the Australian authorities have deployed two aircraft to locate the vessel. But that vessel had disappeared, Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner in Australia A.L.Ratnapala said. The migrants who were in that vessel could be Iranian, Iraq, Afghanistan or Sri Lankan migrants, the Australian media reported.