Jakarta: Sixteen asylum seekers whose boat was pushed back to sea by the Royal Australian Navy last week were found stranded near West Kupang in Indonesia on Thursday night.
The whereabouts of the boat had been a mystery after it was towed out to sea when it came within 200 metres of Christmas Island last Friday.
One of the police officers who assisted the 16 male asylum seekers off their boat, Farah, at Tablolong beach in West Kupang told Fairfax Media they could have died if no one had found them.
"They were in okay condition, they were given enough food and plenty of water, but they ran out of fuel. They could've died if they sunk or if no one found them," he said.
"In my country there are many problems, everything is expensive, wages low, many killings. All I want in Australia is to make a living, and they didn't help," Mr Anwar said.
Mystery asylum seeker boat 'pushed back by Australian navy' found
The whereabouts of the boat had been a mystery after it was towed out to sea when it came within 200 metres of Christmas Island last Friday.
One of the police officers who assisted the 16 male asylum seekers off their boat, Farah, at Tablolong beach in West Kupang told Fairfax Media they could have died if no one had found them.
"They were in okay condition, they were given enough food and plenty of water, but they ran out of fuel. They could've died if they sunk or if no one found them," he said.
"In my country there are many problems, everything is expensive, wages low, many killings. All I want in Australia is to make a living, and they didn't help," Mr Anwar said.
Mystery asylum seeker boat 'pushed back by Australian navy' found