Border force and police scour mangroves for foreign nationals after their vessel ran aground

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Fifteen foreign nationals have been detained and authorities are searching for others who abandoned a boat that ran aground in crocodile country north of Cairns.

Locals raised the alarm when they spotted the boat and saw those aboard fleeing on foot after making it to a remote beach near the mouth of the Daintree river in Queensland on Sunday.

It’s not known how many people were on the boat, which authorities have described as an illegal fishing vessel.

Border force officers are scouring the crocodile-infested mangroves with the help of Queensland police.

“I understand that 15 people are now detained on behalf of the Australian Border Force,” Queensland police minister, Mark Ryan, told reporters on Monday.

Dozens of migrants missing in crocodile-infested Daintree rainforest after boat sinks Read more

“They will be assessed by the Australian Border Force and dealt with in accordance with Australian law.”

Authorities have said 11 were arrested on Sunday.

But the Department of Home Affairs has refused to confirm reports that others were captured on Monday morning, near the Daintree river ferry.

The ferry is the only way across the river, with police stopping and checking all vehicles.

The Douglas shire mayor, Julia Leu, says the boat’s passengers are at risk, with the area around the river and Cape Kimberley, where the vessel ran aground, infested with saltwater crocodiles.

“We have thriving croc spotting operations all up and down the river,” she said on Monday.

“The unknown thing is did they actually end up going through the mangroves. Hopefully not, but we just don’t know.”

Steve Ciobo, who was named the new defence industry minister on Sunday, said the foreign nationals should be sent to Nauru or “somewhere offshore” for processing.

“Those people if we can find them, they should be taken into custody, so to speak, and they should be sent to Nauru,” Ciobo told Sky News on Monday.

“Or they should be sent somewhere offshore if we’re able to do it under our international obligations.”

Australia is legally obliged to process onshore the protection claims of people who arrive in the country.

“They should not be allowed to stay in Australia. We may not be able to do that under conventions, we’ll have to have a look at it.”

The coalition government has repeatedly claimed to have “stopped the boats”.

Home Affairs has refused to comment on reports that some of those detained are Vietnamese.

Former ABF chief Roman Quaedvlieg used Twitter to say it wasn’t unusual “for Vietnamese asylum seekers to target a remote part of the Australian coast”.

“It’s relatively easy to do, but most don’t get far once landed, due to the hostility, and are soon detained or give themselves up quickly. Their asylum claims fail, in the majority.”

If those onboard are found to be asylum seekers, it would be the first such boat arrival on Australia’s shores since 2014. One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, has suggested those on the boat may have headed for Australia as a result of last week’s leadership crisis in Canberra.