Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. A group of asylum seekers on their way to Australia from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were given supplies by the Australian Navy and then sent back to Indonesian waters, one of them confirmed on Tuesday.

The group of 65 people is currently staying at the Ina Boi Hotel in Kupang, after landing on nearby Rote island, in East Nusa Tenggara province, on Sunday night.

Raguvarman, from Bangladesh, told reporters on Tuesday that their boat was intercepted by the Royal Australian Navy near the Ashmore and Cartier Islands, south of Rote.

The asylum seeker said the boat crew was given two new boats, food, money and fuel by the Australians, and that they were then sent back north, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

On the way back to Indonesia, the two new boats ran out of fuel and the group then stranded on Rote island, Raguvarman said.

“We want to seek asylum in Ausralia because we are not comfortable in our country,” the Bangladesh national explained. “We were given money, but the money was taken by the crew of the boat that carried us. Two of the crew took off with a speed boat and four were arrested by police when we stranded.”

Police, however, said only two members of the crew were arrested.

“We left Malaysia, heading for Cisarua [in Bogor district, south of Jakarta] to continue our journey to Australia through Indonesian waters for ten days, until we arrived at Pasir island [Ashmore Reef],” Raguvarman added. “But in the end we stranded in Rote after being evicted by the Australian military … Luckily the sailors helped us by giving us food and simple clothing.”

Rote Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hidayat said the group consisted of one person from Myanmar, ten from Bangladesh and 54 from Sri Lanka and included three children.

The group of asylum seekers was handed over to immigration officials and stayed in the hotel because there was no place in the Kupang immigration detention facility.

The police chief added that two members of the boat crew police had managed to arrest were from Ambon, in Maluku province, and Manado in North Sulawesi.

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