Canberra, Australia

Just a week after a vessel sunk near Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, another asylum-seeker vessel with 150 people aboard sank while en route to Australia.

However, the rescue forces saved 125 people and recovered one body so far. The search is on for the missing persons.

According to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), the over-boarded vessel, which also had women and children among passengers, capsized 107 nautical miles north of Christmas Island in the high seas. Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in her report to Parliament, faced the heat of Australian senators as they questioned her government over how to stop the asylum-seekers' arrival.

The Wednesday's incident happened just days after migrants' boat with 200 people sank in the Indian Ocean, killing 90 people. The rescue workers recovered 17 bodies and saved 110 people in that incident.

In a statement, Customs said the police "initiated a response" immediately after receiving a distress call through a satellite phone on early Wednesday. The police had then sent the details to Indonesian rescue authority Basarnas, which believed generator malfunction as the main cause of sinking.

AMSA later said that a spotter aircraft along with two Australian navy ships helped in the rescue effort.

 

Another Asylum-Seeker Boat Capsizes Off Australia | News of the World