Australia detains 150 asylum seekers on board stricken ship

The Australian navy has detained a boat carrying around 150 asylum seekers off the country’s northern coast.

A spokesman for the navy said the asylum seekers, mostly Iraqis and Afghans, sabotaged the boat by disabling the engine, thereby forcing the navy to rescue them.

The incident is the latest in a series of interceptions since August, when the Australian Government announced a tough new policy of turning away refugees.

Since August, the navy has caught more than 1,000 asylum seekers and sent them to detention centres in the impoverished Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea to stop them reaching Australian soil.