Survivors of a boat that sank off Indonesia's coast said that 200 people, mainly women and children, were trapped in the vessel's hull when it swiftly went down, while others drowned after floating for hours.
Officials say the death toll may pass 350. The wooden boat which reportedly carried illegal immigrants to Australia sank Friday, but news of the tragedy was only made public Monday.
"I held on to a woman's body for two days. I was very tired," said Amal Hasan, a 47-year-old woman from Iraq. "I wanted to die. I saw children die quickly, including beautiful girls."
UN officials said only 44 survivors were pulled from the water out of a reported 421 on board. The International Organization for Migration said most of the immigrants were Iraqis, but that there were also Afghans, Palestinians and Algerians on board.
By yesterday, some survivors were recovering in a refugee camp, said Kemala Ahwil, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Jakarta.
Spokesmen for the police and navy could not confirm reports of the sinking, underscoring the clandestine nature of people-smuggling and the difficulties that Indonesian authorities have in controlling it.
In the Wisma Palar refugee camp in Bogor, a town about 64km south of Jakarta, dozens of people were milling about, many of them still dazed by their experience.
Hasan recalled 200 people trapped in the vessel's hull.
Bahram Khan, from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, said he lost four brothers in the disaster. He said the vessel set sail from a fishing port in southern Sumatra after the refugees had paid US$4,000 each for the journey.
"About 2pm the hull sprang a hole. The mechanic could not fix it and the boat sank," Khan said, adding that he had spent 20 hours clinging to a piece of wood before being picked up by Indonesian fishermen.
Thousands of migrants head for Australia every year from Southeast Asia. Leaky, unseaworthy vessels overloaded with passengers and cargo routinely leave Indonesian ports without working radios or enough life jackets.
The ship left on Thursday, IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy said. Later that day 21 passengers asked to get off the boat and were put ashore on an Indonesian island.
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