A boat carrying more than 200 refugees capsized in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and Christmas Island, killing 17 people and leaving 70 others missing.
The 2012 Indian Ocean migrant boat disaster occurred on 21 June 2012, when a boat carrying more than 200 refugees capsized in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and the Australian external territory of Christmas Island. 109 people were rescued, 17 bodies were recovered, and approximately 70 people remain missing. The boat's passengers were all male and were mostly from Afghanistan.The boat was discovered by an Australian Customs and Border Protection Service surveillance plane 109 nautical miles (202 km) south of Java at about 3:00 pm AWST. The boat had sent out a distress call on 19 June, but it failed to identify its location. On 20 June, the boat sent out a second distress call, at which point Australian authorities advised the boat to return to Indonesia. The boat was spotted later that day by a surveillance plane as it continued toward Australian waters. "No visual signs of distress" were observed by the plane's crew. Australian authorities then began to prepare to respond when the boat would enter their territory, but it capsized before leaving Indonesian waters.About 40 survivors were found clinging to the upturned boat, while others were found on floating debris up to four miles (6 km) from the disaster's location. Survivors and bodies of the deceased were transported to Christmas Island aboard the patrol boat HMAS Wollongong. Rescue efforts were coordinated by Indonesian authorities with assistance from Australia. Eight Australian and Indonesian ships, plus five Australian aircraft, were still searching for additional survivors on 22 June. Australian Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare stated that the prospect of finding additional survivors was "increasingly grim", due to rough seas.Human traffickers often disable their boats once they have entered Australian waters and send out distress calls to have their "cargo" picked up. Christmas Island is a popular target for asylum seekers, whose journeys sometimes end in tragedy. In a statement, the U.N. refugee agency said the tragedy "reinforces the need for renewed international solidarity and cooperation to find protection options for people".
A refugee, generally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national boundaries and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by the contracting state or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) if they formally make a claim for asylum.
The lead international agency coordinating refugee protection is the United Nations Office of the UNHCR. The United Nations has a second office for refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is solely responsible for supporting the large majority of Palestinian refugees.