The official death toll from the vessel which sank off East Java has hit 90. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
- Two owners, two crew and four soldiers arrested
- Survivors and fishermen interviewed
- Death toll from tragic vessel reaches 90
INDONESIAN police have arrested eight people in connection with an overloaded boat carrying 250 asylum seekers that capsized en route to Australia, as the confirmed death toll reached 90.
"We questioned seven survivors and several fishermen as witnesses and ... have arrested and are questioning two owners of the boat that sank and two crew members," national police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution said.
"They've been arrested under immigration and maritime laws.
"The military police have also arrested four soldiers and are questioning them."
The boat carrying mostly Afghans and Iranians sank 40 nautical miles off the coast of eastern Java early Saturday amid bad weather and waves as high as five metres.
Only 47 passengers were rescued after the vessel sank, and the two crew members who at first claimed to be fishermen were found Monday on mainland Java near the city of Malang.
Officials accused crew members of hoarding the 25 life jackets on board, while witnesses told AFP crew members helped distribute them.
Last night, police retrieved 16 bodies that had been swept roughly 300 kilometres east from where the boat capsized and were retrieved around Indonesia's resort island of Bali, bringing the confirmed death toll to 90.
Rescuers had found 43 bloated and rotting bodies on Wednesday and another 31 overnight.
The Australian Federal Police has been working with its Indonesian counterparts to untangle the people smuggling network that orchestrated the perilous journey to Christmas island.
The Australian newspaper has reported that an associate of Afghan human-trafficking kingpin Sayed Abbas was believed to be responsible for sending the boat on its ill-fated journey.
Asylum seekers often pass through Indonesia to connect with people smugglers and to get on boats to Christmas Island, which is closer to Indonesian territory than mainland Australia.
Saturday's capsize is believed to be the largest loss of life yet from a sinking of one of the many boats packed with Asian and Middle Eastern migrants who undertake the perilous voyage.
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