UN seeks investigation into sinking of refugee boat
The United Nations has urged the Indonesian Government to investigate allegations that police forced asylum seekers to board a boat that eventually sank, killing 374 people.
A total of 418 Muslim migrants were on the boat when it began taking on water in the Indian Ocean on Friday.
The 44 survivors have accused Indonesian police of threatening to kill them if they did not board the vessel when it was leaving the town of Lampung.
A spokesman for the police has denied the allegations.
Achmad Hussein Ali, an Iraqi who survived the tragedy, said about 30 policemen armed with pistols and automatic weapons made the passengers board the vessel, even though many of them did not want to after seeing its poor condition.
"They said they were willing to kill us," he said.
"The police even beat two refugees with their rifle butts."
Ali said that after the 418 people had boarded the 60ft wooden boat on Wednesday, it was escorted out of Indonesian waters by several police officers using their own vessel.
