Indonesian drifts to Australia clinging to piece of driftwood

The sunburned, dehydrated man was found Tuesday on Christmas Island's Lily Beach, five days after he and three Myanmar men jumped ship when their boat broke down between Australia and Indonesia.

There has been no sign of the Myanmar men.

“The four men reportedly left a disabled vessel on 24 January 2013 on a raft made of inner tubes and bamboo bound with rope,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said Thursday.

According to the crewman, their raft broke up in poor weather on their first night at sea and he became separated from the three asylum-seekers, only managing to survive by clinging to a piece of driftwood.

“Using it for flotation, (he) continued to swim/drift towards Christmas Island, coming ashore about two days later,” AMSA said.

“The survivor claimed he had been lost on Christmas Island until his discovery.”

Authorities were first alerted to the men's plight last Friday, when the Navy found their original vessel adrift about 20 nautical miles from Christmas Island. The 16 Myanmar asylum-seekers on board revealed the raft tale.

The immigration department said the crewman was taken to the hospital on the island, some 1,540 kilometers (960 miles) from the Australian mainland and 360 kilometers south of Jakarta, and later released into immigration detention.

“He's moved from the hospital, he's obviously been cleared by the hospital so he's fine,” an immigration spokesman told AFP.

Police and the Navy combed the island foreshore at all points where the other three men may have washed up without success and AMSA said it had now halted its search.

“Following confirmation by the survivor that the men were no longer on the raft, AMSA suspended the air and sea search, noting medical advice that the persons could not have survived at sea without support from the raft,” it said.

According to media reports, the search, using six aircraft, two Navy ships and two merchant vessels, spotted the raft's inner tubes on Monday but there was no sign of the Myanmar men.

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