Cullen Bay residents fear surprise arrival of sailing boat from Covid-ravaged Indonesia
Darwinites have expressed concerns over the surprise arrival of a small sailing boat carrying a person from Covid-19-ravaged Indonesia.
Northern Territory
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CULLEN Bay residents have expressed concerns over the surprise arrival of a small sailing boat carrying one person from Covid-19-ravaged Indonesia on Monday morning.
The small yellow vessel sailed into Cullen Bay about 9am on Monday, tying up to the Cullen Bay pontoon opposite the Mandorah Sea Link ferry. Australian Border Force officers spoke to the boat’s skipper and disposed of various materials from the boat.
A member of the NT Health Department in full personal protective equipment boarded the boat to carry out Covid-19 health checks. The sailor is now in the Howard Springs Centre of National Resilience for 14 days of quarantine.
Cullen Bay locals say tighter controls need to be in place for overseas boat arrivals and the Cullen Bay pontoon should be off-limits to yachts tying up.
“By allowing boats to sail into Cullen Bay from countries where Covid-19 is out of control and then tie up at the pontoon near a ferry is high risk … it is putting the community at risk,” said one local who contacted the NT News. “There is little or no security at the pontoon. We know how dangerous the Delta variant is.”
Another local said no overseas boats should be allowed to tie near the Sea Link ferry or other public areas.
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“The community use the Cullen Bay pontoon and we shouldn’t have overseas yachts compromising everyone’s safety,” the resident said.
A spokesman for Secure NT would not say whether the solo yachtsman was a returning Australian citizen or a foreign national, or how long he had been at sea before Darwin.
“We wouldn’t release personal information about the man but I can confirm that he did follow all protocols regarding his arrival,” the spokesman said.
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