Asylum seekers transferred from Manus

THE Department of Immigration has confirmed 19 asylum seekers have been transferred from Papua New Guinea's Manus Island to Australia for medical reasons.

A spokesman for the department said the asylum seekers were transferred to the Inverbrackie detention facility in South Australia on Thursday.

"I can confirm that there was a transfer of 19 people from Manus Island to Inverbrackie," he said.

"The transfer was for medical reasons - most through family groups, although there is one young girl requiring specialist medical treatment."

The spokesman would not confirm how many required treatment, or what they were being treated for, but said their conditions were not infectious.

All had previously arrived in Australian waters by boat and had since been transferred to Manus Island, as part of the federal government's offshore processing regime.

Australian Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said the transfer proved the Manus Island processing centre was a "horror show" and needed to be shut down.

"It is not saving lives, it is not stopping boats, in fact it is harming people including refugee children," she told reporters in Canberra.

"It is making them suffer more and it's time to shut it down."

Senator Hanson-Young said one family had been split as part of the medical transfer.

"Is this a new government policy to be splitting families?" she asked.

The Refugee Action Coalition said all those transferred were from a family compound on Manus Island, and included at least six pregnant women and a sick eight-year-old Iraqi girl accompanied by her mother.

"It says everything about the quality of medical care in Manus Island that the women about to have children have had to be brought to the Australian mainland," spokesman Ian Rintoul said in a statement.

"If the family compound cannot look after families then it should be closed."

Federal Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison was due to hold a press conference on the issue in Sydney.

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80 asylum seekers living in uni

RADIO announcer Ray Hadley has called on the Federal Government for a detailed report and explanation after he revealed 80 asylum seekers have been living inside the grounds of a Sydney university.

On his radio show this morning, Hadley said approximately 80 Sri Lankan men were living at student accommodation inside Macquarie University.

"In the grounds of the university there are two dorm buildings housing young women - those dorms are surrounded by the dormitories containing the 80 Sri Lankan men,'' Hadley said.

"According to people I've spoken to at the university, the young women feel both intimdated and frightened by having the men in close proximity. Some are in fact scared and conveyed that to police officers on the scene yesterday.''

NSW Police today confirmed officers were investigating reports a man indecently assaulted a female university student while she was sleeping in her dormitory.

Detectives have been told a 20-year-old woman was asleep in her dormitory when a man broke into her room and indecently assaulted her about 3.20am yesterday.

The woman awoke during the incident and the man fled the scene.

The man is described as 20-25 years old, thin build, dark skinned, with dark short curly hair. He was wearing no t-shirt and a pair of grey coloured tracksuit pants.

Hadley has called on the Immigration Department to provide a report into why the university was doubling as "some sort of a Quasi detention centre".

POLICE have confirmed officers are investigating reports a man indecently assaulted a female university student while she was sleeping in her dormitory.

Detectives have been told a 20-year-old woman was asleep in her dormitory when a man broke into her room and indecently assaulted her about 3.20am yesterday.

The woman awoke during the incident and the man fled the scene.

The man is described as 20-25 years old, thin build, dark skinned, with dark short curly hair. He was wearing no t-shirt and a pair of grey coloured tracksuit pants.

It is believed he is one of approximately 80 Sri Lankan refugees who are being housed on the university grounds.

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23 asylum seekers arrested

Sri Lankan asylum seekers like these, have been caught trying to get to Christmas Island. PIC: Hardinmansyah/AP Source: AP

INDONESIAN police have arrested 23 Sri Lankans asylum seekers who were stranded after their boat hit a reef as they tried to reach Australia's Christmas Island.

Based on a tip-off from local fishermen, police arrested the 17 men and six women, as well as three children, off an island in Jakarta's Thousand Islands chain on Monday morning, said senior police officer Bungin Misalayuk.

"They are all Sri Lankan nationals who planned to sail to Christmas Island. Their boat was stranded at Tidung Island," he said today, adding that the wooden boat's captain and crew had fled when police arrived at the site.

"They are all in good condition and being held at an immigration detention centre."

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Rescued asylum seekers near death

Burmese nationals rescued off Sri Lanka's eastern coast lie on the floor at a hospital in Galle, Sri Lanka. Picture: Sri Lankan Navy/AP Source: AP

SHOCKING pictures have emerged of a group of asylum seekers rescued after their boat sank after two months at sea as they desperately tried to reach Australia.

Just 32 Burmese nationals, out of a group of 130, survived the journey and were rescued by the Sri Lankan navy about 250 nautical miles off Sri Lanka's eastern coast on Saturday

The group comprising 31 adult males and a boy had been at sea without food for 21 days when the navy rescued them after being informed by a local fishing boat.

Some of the men had to be stretchered off the rescue ship while others were assisted off by navy officers.

Sri Lankan sailors assist Burmese nationals off a navy ship at the southern port of Galle, following their rescue at sea a day earlier. Picture: Sri Lankan Navy/AFP

The survivors were taken to the southern port of Galle where they were treated for dehydration and starvation with many placed on drips at a local hospital.

Survivors have told local newspapers that there were 130 passengers at the beginning of the journey, and 98 died on the way with their bodies dumped to sea.

They said they were planning to go to Australia after their attempt to enter Malaysia failed.

A Burmese national is stretchered off a navy ship at the southern port of Galle after being rescued from a sinking boat during an attempt to reach Australia. Picture: Sri Lankan Navy/AFP

A spokesman for Burma's embassy in Colombo said they were waiting to speak with the boat people before deciding on a course of action.

Burmese asylum seekers were treated for acute dehydration and starvation after they spent two months at sea trying to reach Australia. Picture: Sri Lankan Navy/AFP

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