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.
“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.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
