Sydney, February 16: Sydney has arranged a burial for the victims of a boat crash that claimed the lives of 50 asylum seekers bound for Australia.
A boat crash off the coast of western Australia on December 15, 2010 took the lives of 50 asylum seekers, who were heading for Australia.
Survivors of the boat tragedy were taken directly to Christmas Island, where they have been incarcerated since. They were flown to Sydney today for the burial service, a Media correspondent reports.
Australian immigration officials held the bodies of the dead in a morgue for two months despite pleas from surviving family members and pro-refugee groups to release them and allow for a proper burial.
Pro-refugee groups slammed the government’s treatment of the victims, describing it as insensitive and callous.
The Department of Immigration did not consult the family members about the funeral arrangements, disregarding cultural and religious burial customs.
This has led four families to send their loved ones home to Iraq, claiming the Department of Immigration has denied them a proper religious burial.
Refugee advocates say this has inflicted more unnecessary misery on the families.
The survivors of the tragedy were taken away on a bus as soon as the service was over.
They will be transported back to Christmas Island, where they will remain incarcerated until their applications for asylum are processed.
Their family members and pro-refugee groups are calling on the Australian government not to send them back to the island in the light of their recent suffering, along with reports that the island facility is not adequately run.
Pro-refugee groups are calling on the Department of Immigration to allow family members to mourn their dead and remain with relatives in Sydney, who are prepared to host them.
They have also called on the government to uphold people’s rights of freedom of religion and religious practice, which they say were not respected.
———Agencies