Boatload of People Missing off Australia

A boat carrying up to 220 suspected illegal immigrants bound for Australia has disappeared and might have sunk, Australian immigration officials said Tuesday.

A spokesman for Australia’s Immigration Department said the suspected Indonesian vessel carrying people from the Middle East left Java in late March and has not been seen since.

He said the boat was believed to be headed for Christmas Island, an Australian territory 220 miles south of Java in the Indian Ocean and a common stop for illegal immigrants who have targeted Australia in recent months.

Earlier, Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock told reporters, “Suggestions are that a boat with something of the order of 170 to 220 people may have foundered en route to Australia.”

The spokesman said the journey would normally take from 1 1/2 to two days, but the boat carrying the suspected illegal immigrants was known to be in poor condition.

The spokesman said searches were not underway because of the vast area involved.

Immigration officials said last week that 57 suspected illegal immigrants and four crew members had been rescued from their sinking boat off Australia’s vast northwest coast. That boat was the 15th detected this year.