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How many of the 1500 asylum seeker lives lost at sea since 2001 could have been saved?
Zahra (6), Fatima (7) and Eman (9) - the daughters of Sondos Ismail and Ahmed Alzalimi -  three of the 146 children who lost their lives when the vessel that has become known as SIEVX foundered in international waters en route to Christmas Island on 19 October 2001.
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MEDIA

GOVERNMENT
Ruddock Knew!

20 September 2002 (updated 4pm)

SIEVX is back in the news following yesterday's release of declassified DIMIA Intelligence reports to the Senate Committee which show that Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock was informed on 23 October that SIEVX had sunk 60nm south of Java.

  • Ruddock says he does not know where smuggling boat sank ~ Rod McGuirk DARWIN, Sept 20 AAP - Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock today maintained he did not know where a people smuggling boat sank with the loss of 353 lives last year despite an intelligence report stating a position.

    A report indicating an overcrowded boat sank 60 nautical miles south of Indonesia's Sunda Strait appears to contradict claims the boat went down outside Australia's maritime surveillance zone. The report, dated four days after the tragedy, places the sinking inside the zone.

    The boat, now known as SIEV-X (suspected illegal entry vessel - unknown), reportedly sank on October 19, 2001. Mr Ruddock said the briefing document was not certain. "It suggested a location, and it referred to it as being approximate, that had come from various reports that had been put together in Indonesia," Mr Ruddock told ABC Radio today. "Nobody was absolutely certain, the report indicated that it wasn't certain.

    "But the one thing that was certain and the thing that the prime minister and I have pointedly said all the time is that wherever this vessel tragically sank, it was in the areas which were the responsibility for oversight by Indonesia."

    Prime Minister John Howard said last October 23 - the same day the Department of Immigration Intelligence Note was drafted - that the vessel sank in Indonesian waters outside the defence surveillance zone.

    The intelligence reports indicate the government agencies were unaware just when SIEV-X departed Indonesia and did not know it had sunk until at least four days later.

    The report, prepared by the Immigration Department border protection branch, was one of six released yesterday by the children overboard inquiry.

    Mr Ruddock described the debate about whether the boat sank in international waters patrolled by RAAF Orion aircraft as academic.

    "We still don't know precisely where it sank," he said. "It's an academic exercise that is being pursued by certain people who are suggesting that in some way because we were patrolling and looking for vessels that might be seeking to come to Australia unlawfully, that we should have observed what was happening to this particular vessel. "It occurred in those areas adjacent to Indonesia which are Indonesian air and sea rescue zone responsibility." AAP

  • Report claims Ruddock knew boat sank in Australian waters (ABC)
    The Federal Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock is maintaining an asylum seeker vessel that sank last year was in Indonesian waters.

    More than 300 asylum seekers drowned in the incident.

    Intelligence reports allegedly show Mr Ruddock knew last year that the boat, known as Siev X, sank in international waters within the zone patrolled by the Australian Navy and Air Force.

    Mr Ruddock says nobody is certain about exactly where the vessel sank, but it was not in an area of Australian responsibility.

    "The one thing that was certain and the one thing that the Prime Minister and I have pointedly said all the time, is that wherever this vessel tragically sank, it was in the areas which were the responsibility for oversight by Indonesia," he said.

  • Ruddock 'knew where boat sank' ~ Cameron Stewart (Australian)
    INTELLIGENCE reports show Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock was told last year that the asylum-seeker vessel Siev X had sunk in international waters - within the zone patrolled by the Australian navy and air force. However, Mr Ruddock appears not to have passed the information on to John Howard who claimed the Siev X had sunk in "Indonesian waters" and was therefore outside Australia's responsibility. The issue of where Siev X sank is central to the question of whether the Australian navy and air force could have done anything to prevent the tragedy in which 353 asylum-seekers drowned...[Complete article here]

  • Notes contradict PM on boat tragedy~ Michael Gordon (Age)
    Declassified documents have contradicted the Howard Government's assertions that the tragedy in which 353 asylum seekers drowned last October occurred in Indonesian waters. The documents were sent to Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock and officials during last year's federal election campaign. The intelligence notes, dated October 23, said the boat, dubbed SIEV (suspected illegal entry vessel) X, was 60 nautical miles south of the Sunda Strait when it sank, clearly in international waters. The next day, Prime Minister John Howard continued to insist that the boat sank in Indonesian waters. The assertion was contradicted in June when it was revealed that federal police intelligence given to Mr Howard's people-smuggling taskforce on October 23 said the boat was likely to have been in international waters when it sank. Mr Ruddock played down this revelation at the time, insisting Australia never knew precisely where the boat sank. "Wherever it sank, it was in at least the Indonesian air, sea and rescue zone responsibilities (and) it was quite possibly . . . within the (Indonesian) 12-mile limits," he said on June 23...[Complete article here]

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