<div>Yet another asylum-seeker tragedy was playing out in the Indian Ocean last night, with at least 75 people believed drowned when their boat capsized and a second boat reportedly also in trouble.
Details of the second vessel remained sketchy as darkness fell but the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Indonesian navy was searching for a stricken boat carrying 100 passengers. Meanwhile, 90 people were still missing late last night from the first boat, which overturned half-way between Indonesia and the Australian territory of Christmas Island.
That boat was carrying about 200 people, 110 of whom had been plucked from the choppy waters by an Australian Navy patrol boat and three cargo ships by late yesterday. Forty were clinging to the upturned hull when they were spotted by chance by a Customs and Border Protection surveillance plane yesterday afternoon.
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Details of the second vessel remained sketchy as darkness fell but the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Indonesian navy was searching for a stricken boat carrying 100 passengers. Meanwhile, 90 people were still missing late last night from the first boat, which overturned half-way between Indonesia and the Australian territory of Christmas Island.
That boat was carrying about 200 people, 110 of whom had been plucked from the choppy waters by an Australian Navy patrol boat and three cargo ships by late yesterday. Forty were clinging to the upturned hull when they were spotted by chance by a Customs and Border Protection surveillance plane yesterday afternoon.
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