A group of Sri Lankan asylum seekers who were trying to sail to New Zealand have returned to sea today after mistakenly arriving at the small Western Australian town of Geraldton.
The 66 refugees, including several children and pregnant women, sailed into the port of Geraldton yesterday afternoon on a small fishing boat. They were flying a New Zealand flag and holding banners that read “We want go to New Zealand. Pls help us.”
The refugees apparently believed they had reached the New Zealand town of Geraldine, but were extremely disappointed to learn that they had in fact arrived in Geraldton, 400km north of Perth.
“We thought we reach New Zealand city Geraldine” said one refugee to local newspaper The Geraldton Guardian. “But we reach Australia Geraldton. Not same.”
Australian customs and police officers were dispatched to meet the refugees as they sailed into the harbour. A temporary processing centre was established and plans made to transfer them to a detention centre at Christmas Island.
But the asylum seekers have refused to be processed, and after spending several hours in the town of Geraldton, made clear their intentions to leave at once.
The refugees set sail again just before midday this morning, hoping to finally reaching their original destination of New Zealand.
Australian customs services declined to stop the refugees from leaving, but warned them that continuing their journey to New Zealand would be extremely dangerous, and said they would be much safer staying in Australia.
The refugees responded that they were aware of this, but would rather die.