A Tamil woman who fled from Sri Lanka to Australia on the same boat as Priya Murugappan said almost 100 women and children were crammed onto the rickety fishing boat which broke down nine days into the journey.
since Tharnicaa —who turns four on Saturday — was evacuated to Perth Children’s Hospital on Monday where she was diagnosed with pneumonia after being ill for two weeks.
She said the asylum seekers, who boarded at an Indian port, weren’t provided with water or food and some ran out of snacks after three days. The woman remembers the joy of seeing land for the first time after 12 days at sea but her hopes of settling in Australia were quickly dashed as she and Priya were sent to Christmas Island’s detention centre.The pair were placed in detention together, where they were confined to their rooms and only allowed to briefly go outside after meals.They were eventually sent to another facility in Darwin and later to Sydney, where they were finally allowed to go out in the community on a temporary visa.
Family friends and strangers stood side by side in the rain to call for the family to be allowed to resettle in Australia permanently, holding handmade signs and singingPassing traffic tooted their horns in support as members of Western Australia’s Tamil community shared their own tales of hardship and ever-present worries about being deported back to Sri Lanka.
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