Asylum-seekers leave ship

Twenty-two of the 78 Sri Lankan asylum- seekers who have refused for four weeks to leave Australia's Oceanic Viking in the western Java port of Merak quit the ship yesterday and said the rest would follow.

After undergoing medical and identity checks by Indonesian officials, the 22 Tamil men were taken from the Australian Customs vessel to the Australia-funded detention centre in Tanjung Pinang, Bintan's main town.

As they were led inside, two were asked whether the remaining 56 asylum-seekers would leave the vessel. Both responded: "Yes".

Indonesia's top diplomat on the ground, Dr Sujatmiko, confirmed some of the 22 were refugees and would be resettled in Australia within four weeks.

He said Canberra had also guaranteed that the others would be assessed in the coming weeks and resettled within three months.