Boats could be those feared sunk

Boats could be those feared sunk

CANBERRA (AP): Two boatloads of suspected illegal immigrants found off northwest Australia this weekend could be those feared lost at sea last week, authorities said on Sunday.

Immigration officials were preparing to question the 212 asylum-seekers and crew found on two boats off the Ashmore Islands, 900 kilometers west of the northern city of Darwin, to see if the ships were the same ones reported to have sunk after setting off from eastern Indonesia more than a week ago.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said last week up to 163 people were feared drowned after their ships sank in stormy seas off northern Australia. No trace of the ships or victims was found.

A spokeswoman for Ruddock said on Sunday she could not rule out the chance that the two boats carried people initially feared drowned. "We don't know. We've been expecting about five (boats)," she said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.