Hopes fade for more survivors from Indonesia asylum boat

The search was to resume Friday for more survivors from an asylum-seeker boat that disappeared off the Indonesian coast, but hopes were rapidly fading with a crucial rescue window closing. So far 54 people, revised down by authorities from 55, have been plucked to safety from the ocean since the Australia-bound boat sent a distress signal on Wednesday morning, with nearly 100 people still missing. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the survivors were to be transferred to Indonesian rescue boats early Friday from the merchant ships and an Australian naval vessel that picked them up. "All survivors, including three with injuries, will be taken to Merak, Indonesia for medical attention," AMSA said, adding that a search operation by three merchant ships and two Australian aircraft would continue. But hopes were fading of finding anyone else alive after two days in the water. Reports in Australia said many of those picked up were Afghans. "We have a window of opportunity -- people can survive in the sea for up to 36, maybe 48 hours," Australian Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare told reporters. The wooden asylum-seeker boat was about eight nautical miles from Java when it issued a distress call in the early hours of Wednesday. By the time the first people were rescued, they had been in the water for almost 24 hours and had drifted to a point some 40 nautical miles off the Javanese coast. Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) received an alert from AMSA early Wednesday that a boat was in distress 220 nautical miles from the Australian territory of Christmas Island. Basarnas sent two police rescue boats and a helicopter but found nothing and returned to base, only for AMSA to task the cargo ship APL Bahrain, which responded to a broadcast to shipping, to attend a broader search area. It was the Bahrain that spotted the first survivors, sparking a full-scale search and rescue operation. The Sydney Morning Herald said the asylum boat was organised by a 25-year-old Pakistani people-smuggler. Australia is facing a steady influx of asylum-seekers arriving by boat, many of whom use Indonesia as a transit hub, paying people-smugglers for passage on leaky wooden vessels after fleeing their home countries. More than 300 boatpeople have died en route to Australia this year, with vessels being intercepted by the Australian navy on almost a daily basis, including one carrying 31 people late Thursday.