Thirteen Indians were among a group of 16 illegal immigrants left stranded on an island in eastern Indonesia after their boat was forced to turn back by Australian authorities.
The stranded boat carrying immigrates from India, Nepal and Bangladesh was discovered late last night off southern Timor island and all the people on board were evacuated by local fishermen.
Daniel Lani, a local resident who found the boat said the vessel was stranded near Skala village in West Kupang district and had run out of fuel.
"They cried out for help and then we lead them to the ground, then we reported to the nearest police," Daniel told Indonesian news agency Antara.
Thirteen migrants from India, two from Nepal and one Bangladeshi came ashore Thursday evening in Tablolong, on Timor island in eastern Indonesia, and the ship's captain was also detained, local police spokesman Jules Abraham Abas said.
Muhammad Anwar (22), the only Bangladesh immigrant in the group said the group had been travelling for more than 10 days.
"We sail to Christmas Island in Australia. On arriving there we were detained for four days, and the ships that we use from Jakarta destroyed by the security forces of Australia," Anwar said.
"We spent four days in Christmas Island, but were told to turn back to Indonesia by Australian security officials, because the Australian government refuses to accept illegal immigrants," he said, adding the immigrants had each paid USD 5000 for their journey.
He said the Australian security officials told him that their country did not accept the arrival of illegal migrants from any nation.
The discovery off Indonesia comes a week after reports that a small wooden boat carrying suspected immigrants was intercepted off Christmas Island in Australia and towed away from Australian waters.
Australia's hardline policy denies resettlement to all immigrants arriving by boat to Christmas Island, which lies between Indonesia and the Australian mainland, sending them instead to the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus in Papua New Guinea.
