Australia deports 37 boat people

Australia deports 37 boat people

SRI LANKA: Australia on Wednesday deported 37 Sri Lankans, many of whom risked a boat journey across the Indian Ocean to enter its shores illegally, an official in Colombo said.

The asylum seekers were deported on a flight chartered by Canberra which has toughened its stand on a rising tide of boat people in recent months.

Officials said 33 of the asylum seekers had use a fishing boat to land on the Cocos Islands, a remote Australian territory about 3,000 km from Sri Lanka.

They could not say how long the journey had taken or how the other four asylum seekers had entered Australia.

The boat's six-member crew had been charged in Australia and face up to 20 years in prison and fines of A$220,000 (US$114,000), the high commission said. --Reuters