WHEN naval officer Edi Sukendi saw the weird orange capsule jammed on a coral reef close to shore, his first instinct was to check it for explosives.

Corporal Sukendi got word from a ranger that the strange vessel had landed on the afternoon of January 15, and disgorged an estimated 60 asylum-seekers, who immediately scattered into the jungle.

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This is the first look at one of the reported 11 lifeboats that the Abbott government bought out of Singapore to send asylum-seekers back to Indonesia.

Sukendi was shocked at the sophistication of the brand new 8.5m x 3.2m vessel, fitted with 90 seats (with seatbelts), air-conditioning, navigational equipment, life jackets, food and water and an inboard diesel motor that he estimated was capable of doing 30 knots.

News_Image_File: Inspecting the boat ... Edi Sukendi inspects the Australian Navy life boat that came ashore in West Java, Indonesia.

Sukendi, a naval operational commander who has no boat of his own, was taken aback that Australia would give away such a boat to asylum-seekers.

Sukendi asked a local fishermen, named Amar, to take him to a remote point halfway between his base at Ujung Genteng (the closest point between Indonesia and Christmas Island) and the port of Pelabuhan Ratu.

Upon arrival, they found the fully enclosed safety vessel stuck on coral within wading distance of shore. With 20 men, they heaved the boat to shore. It was not leaking but they were unable to start it because the keys were missing.

"When we first saw it, we were very surprised," Sukendi said. "We were worried it might have explosives." He said the discarded food and water bottles were all marked as Malaysian, so he at first assumed it had come from there.

The story became clearer after a visit to Iranian asylum-seekers in the West Java city of Cisarua. A husband and wife said they received a visit from three filthy and distraught Iranian asylum-seekers who knocked on their door on January 17, two days after the lifeboat came ashore.

News_Rich_Media: The unsinkable, orange capsules the Australian government is using to send asylum seekers back to where they came from.

It was not possible to speak to any of the people who were on the boat because their phones are switched off - they're in the hands of smugglers, attempting to make it to Australia once again.

But they told the husband and wife what had happened. They said they had made it close to Christmas Island in a wooden vessel when they sighted an Australian Border protection Command vessel.

At that point, they began scuttling the boat.

They told the husband and wife the Australian navy tried to pump the boat but it was too damaged. They were then taken aboard the vessel where they spent 10 days cruising within sight of Christmas Island.

They said there were adults, children and teenagers aboard.

They were fed and photographed. On the tenth day, they were ordered into the lifeboat. Some, according to the husband and wife, refused to enter the capsule and were physically shoved inside. They were given documents stating their vessel was not to enter Australian waters.

The Indonesian crew who had captained the scuttled boat was ordered to pilot the lifeboat back to Indonesia. They travelled through international waters under escort by Border Protection Command until they arrived close to Indonesian territory.

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The Indonesian crew chose a sparsely inhabited jungle reserve, one of the most remote areas on the southern coast, to land the vessel.

The asylum-seekers - said to be mostly Iranian and Sri Lankan - told the husband and wife the Indonesians jumped out close to shore and handed the controls to an Iranian, who ran the boat into a reef.

They then waded ashore wearing life jackets and spent two days wandering terrified in the jungle before a sheepherder directed them towards a road, where they grabbed minibuses and motorbikes to take them back to Cisarua.

Three died while crossing a river in the jungle.

The boats have slowed dramatically but this particular group will not take no for an answer - and may cost the Australian government a second lifeboat if they are intercepted again.

The lifeboat is consistent with the Vanguard brand, which sells safety vessels in Singapore.

The boat - believed to be the second sent so far back to Indonesia - was towed into Pelabuhan Ratu and secured in a navy dock, where its future is unknown.

Edi Sukendi says he'd gladly take the boat and use it to conduct patrols on his coast.