The UN yesterday called on Australia to speed up an investigation into a fatal blast on a people-smuggling boat amid reports that refugees scrambling for safety were kicked back into the sea by navy sailors.
The UN refugee agency called for the “expeditious conclusion” of the inquiry, five months after the April 16 blast that killed five Afghan asylum-seekers and left dozens injured.
It declined to comment on media reports that “distressing” video footage of the incident showed survivors being kicked and pushed away as they tried to board inflatable naval craft near their stricken vessel.
“We’re hoping for the expeditious conclusion of the inquiry into the overall incident and the release of that information,” a Canberra-based spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. “It has been some time and we’re very much looking forward to seeing the result of that.”
The refugee boat had been intercepted by a navy vessel off Australia’s northwest and was awaiting transportation to the offshore immigration center at Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean, when the explosion went off.
The Australian newspaper published a report last week in which “well-placed sources” were quoted as saying “distressing” and “inhumane” video footage of the explosion’s aftermath showed refugees struggling in the water being forced away from naval craft.
Australian Defense Minister Senator John Faulkner has promised to release all video and photographs of the incident when investigations by the Northern Territory police and coroner’s office are complete.
West Australian state Premier Colin Barnett said shortly after the explosion that it occurred when the refugees doused their boat in gasoline, but authorities in Canberra have refused to confirm the blast’s cause.
The treatment of refugees remains a sensitive issue in Australia after the previous government incorrectly accused asylum seekers of throwing children into the sea to avoid capture by the navy in 2001.
Australia yesterday scrapped the controversial policy it previously followed of handing immigrants bills, often running hundreds of thousands of dollars, for time spent in detention camps while their asylum claims are processed.
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