Arrivals pour in by boat and by plane

A SMILING group of 67 Sri Lankans who survived a long sea journey arrived at Christmas Island from the Cocos Islands yesterday.

Christmas Island

A SMILING group of 67 Sri Lankans who survived a long sea journey touched down at Christmas Island's airport from the Cocos Islands yesterday, as 53 of their countrymen arrived at Christmas Island on yet another boat.

The latest arrivals are part of an extraordinary influx of asylum-seekers.

The most recent boat, dubbed SIEV 365, follows the arrival of four vessels in about 24 hours from Thursday night. One of them remains at sea on its way to Christmas Island after the 41 passengers on board were intercepted at Ashmore Reef, about a three-day journey away.

A sixth boat was due at Christmas Island this morning.

Refugee advocate Ian Rintoul said people waiting for boats in Indonesia were worried by moves in federal parliament to introduce offshore processing. He said they feared the government was about to "slam the door shut".

"People are quite anxious to get on a boat," he said.

Mr Rintoul said while asylum-seekers were concerned about the perilous sea journey to Australia, they felt it was the only option because they were convinced there was no future for them either in their home country or Indonesia. He said some people waiting to board boats had already paid people-smugglers for their passage and were now awaiting notice of the next departure.

There has been one case of chicken pox from the recent influx. A Sri Lankan man who was among passengers from one of two boats offloaded last Friday is suspected of having contracted the illness. This has sparked a health warning to workers who deal with the asylum-seekers.

Staff from the wide number of agencies and companies involved in the transfer of the Sri Lankans have been told to go to the island's hospital if they develop a rash.

A Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman said it was "closely monitoring the situation" and had arrangements in place, including isolation accommodation if necessary.

The 67 Sri Lankans who arrived via plane at Christmas Island yesterday were flown from the Cocos Islands, where they landed on Friday after sailing direct from their home country.

The group of Tamils -- who were all men and included two teenagers -- shook hands and thanked immigration staff who escorted them on a chartered Norfolk Air plane. When asked yesterday how much the chartered plane cost, DIAC said this was still being finalised.

Meanwhile, two Indonesian crew members from the first boat to capsize almost two weeks ago, killing an estimated 90 asylum-seekers, are refusing to co-operate with police.

The Australian Federal Police said at this stage the pair had refused to be interviewed on advice from Legal Aid.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Ramzi Jabbour flew to the island on the weekend and told The Australian the investigation into who organised the two fatal voyages was complex.

"Given the number of people involved and the complexities of the law that we're dealing with, it will take some time for us to be able to identify who the organisers of the venture were and attempt to locate them," he said.

No crew were among the second boat that sunk last Wednesday and West Australian police are hopeful the sole body recovered from the disaster will be able to be visually identified by one of the 130 survivors.

Another three people are thought to have drowned in the sinking but their bodies have not been recovered.

Two bodies have been visually identified by survivors from the first boat sinking but police say they will not be able to identify the remaining 15 bodies in this way.

All 18 bodies from the two sinkings are expected to be transported to Perth in coming weeks.