Immigrants face Outback death after tunnel escape

A group of asylum seekers who tunnelled out of a remote detention centre in the desert of southern Australia could fall prey to the harsh Outback climate, a local politician warned today.

Seven suspected illegal immigrants from the Middle East are believed to have used their bare hands to burrow through rain-drenched soil and under security fencing at the centre in Woomera, a former missile testing base 870 miles west of Sydney.

One of the fugitives has since been spotted in the southern city of Adelaide, but Labour politician Lyn Breuer said the remaining six could be at the mercy of the unforgiving Australian Outback, where nights are cold and water is scarce.