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| Life jackets find sparks fears for asylum seekers | Life jackets find sparks fears for asylum seekers |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Eight life jackets have washed up on an island off the western Australia coast sparking calls for a full scale search in case they belong to a boat carrying asylum seekers. | |
| The life jackets were found on a Cocos Island on Friday and the Australian Federal Police are considering a sea search with customs and border protection officers. | |
| An AFP spokeswoman said they were asking local residents who might know something to come forward while officers investigated where the life jackets came from. | |
| Police are also urging anyone who had found a life jacket and not handed it in to contact authorities on the island. | |
| The find puzzled some locals who did not believe asylum seekers’ boats usually carried life jackets. | The find puzzled some locals who did not believe asylum seekers’ boats usually carried life jackets. |
| Shane Charlston heard the jackets were discovered scattered around a couple of beaches. | |
| “We don’t think it is an asylum seeker boat. They don’t carry them [life jackets],” he said. | “We don’t think it is an asylum seeker boat. They don’t carry them [life jackets],” he said. |
| “The ones that we get don’t carry life jackets anyway. The ones who go to Christmas Island seem to have them but the boats that come here don’t.” | “The ones that we get don’t carry life jackets anyway. The ones who go to Christmas Island seem to have them but the boats that come here don’t.” |
| Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said a full scale search should have been launched immediately but weather may have hindered authorities. | |
| He said there were reports an Orion sea surveillance plane had been seen in the area on Thursday and there were suspicions it was looking for a boat carrying asylum seekers the day before the life jackets were discovered. | |
| “There needs to be an immediate search,” he said. | |
| “They have had some very bad weather over there and I understand there has been some effort to search but we are very concerned. | |
| “One Orion plane is not proficient, there needs to be a full scale search.” | |
| The life jacket find comes as the Australian reported the number of unseaworthy boats trying to reach the country has spiked as asylum seekers tried to reach the country before the September federal election. | |
| The figures released by Customs and Border Protection show 51% of asylum seeking boats that have arrived this year were unseaworthy. | |
| That compares to 31% of boat arrivals last year which were unseaworthy and 28% the year before. | |
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