Mohammad Amin (right) and Taufeeq (left). Photo: Supplied
An asylum seeker boat that had left Indonesia for Christmas Island on 22nd of May, 2012 has never reached the Australian shores, neither any one heard of them since then.
Speaking to Hazara Asylum Seekers over the phone, Ms Suhaila, who had her brother Taufeeq on board told that the boat left Indonesia on the 22nd of May this year, and since then they’ve not heard anything from them. The boat was reportedly carrying 25 asylum seekers – all belonged to Hazara community – and two crew members. It’d been organized by people smuggler Haji Ghulam Ali.
Family members of Taufeeq had made several calls to Haji Ghulam Ali after their concerns about safety of Taufeeq begin to rise; at first they were being told different stories but later on, Haji changed his mobile number making it impossible for the families of the drowned souls to contact him.
One of the passengers, Mohammad Amin contacted back his family and spoke to his sister named Fatima at 2pm on May 22. According to Fatima, her brother told her that they are about to board a Christmas Island bound boat and will begin sailing at night.
“It was then and now, we never heard of our brother”; said Fatima
This boat tragedy has also not been reported in Media and after eight months, it is much likely that this boat had sunk off en-route to Christmas Island, taking the number of unreported drowning to FOUR for this calendar year with December is yet go.
Following are names of some other on board asylum seekers;
- Taufeeq Ullah
- Mohammad Amin
- Shabbir
- Nadir
- Raza
- Ishaq
