JAKARTA, Indonesia - Fifteen Sri Lankan Tamil refugees left Indonesia for Canada and Australia on Saturday, only two months after they were rescued at sea by an Australian customs vessel, an official said.
They are among 78 Tamils who for a month refused to leave the ship that rescued them. They finally disembarked after promises they would be rapidly resettled. Refugees in Indonesia typically wait years before being resettled.
The 78 were trying to reach Australia when their wooden boat's engine broke down in international waters near Indonesia.
They left the Indonesia immigration detention centre in Pangkalpinang on a small island just off of Sumatra on Saturday, with 13 going to resettle in Canada and two in Australia, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Sujatmiko, who uses only one name.
Australian Immigration Ministry spokesman Reese Davies declined to comment.
They are the first to find permanent homes among the 78 Tamils whose asylum claims have all been accepted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Indonesia, which is not a signatory to the U.N. Convention on Refugees, has become a major transit point for an increasing number of asylum seekers from war-ridden countries like Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq who slip through on their way to Australia.
