The Roshan, a Sri Lankan-registeredfishing boat, was intercepted on Tuesday off the Port, west of Reunion Island. On board were seven migrants.
They were escorted by the gendarmes to a dock, where they were “subject to a health and administrative assessment,” the prefecturesaid. All seem to be in good physical shape. Their nationality has not yet been established.
Water reserves and fishing gear on the ship
“We were about to finish our fishing trip when we saw this boat with people waving at us,” said a witness, who was with two friends on board his boat and alerted the Regional Operational Monitoring and Rescue Centre (CROSS).
The boat was left unattended in the west port. Large quantities of water and almost new fishing equipment can be seen on the bridge. The general condition of the ship is rather bad.
62 migrants in mid-December
This is the fifth time this year that migrants have been intercepted off Reunion Island. In March, six Sri Lankans were found off the coast of Saint-Gilles (west) in a makeshift raft. Their asylum application is still being investigated.
On 14 December, 62 people,including a dozen women and children, were intercepted on a Sri Lankan-flagged fishing boat. Initially placed in a holding area, all the migrants were released by the court on the grounds that their rights had not been notified to them upon arrival on the island. All have applied for asylum with the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons.
