KEY POINTS:
An Indonesian tall ship bound for the Apec meeting in Sydney has run aground in heavy seas on a beach in south-east Queensland.
The 35-metre KRI Arung Samudera was due in to Brisbane tomorrow, and was to join six other tall ships in Sydney on September 2 to mark the start of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders' week.
The ship was originally built as a fast and luxurious sailing yacht in New Zealand.
Eighteen crew members - all Indonesian naval officers - were located today at Rainbow Beach near Gympie, north of Brisbane.
The condition of the sailing vessel, which has grounded on the beach, is not known.
"It is not a search and rescue," sad a spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
A Queensland police spokeswoman said the men were being assisted at Rainbow Beach police station.
"We are just making them comfortable until arrangements can be made for them to continue their journey," she said.
Local man Bob Elmer told ABC radio he found the men on a road behind the beach, wet and shivering but looking relaxed.
The men told him they were Indonesian and were travelling from Cairns to Brisbane when their boat broke down.
"There were about a dozen people standing on the road and from what I could understand - and I'm not real good at listening to Indonesians talk - they said they were coming from Cairns to Brisbane and broke down and washed up on the beach," Mr Elmer said.
"We've just been trying to organise the police and the SES to help."
Queensland's southern coast is being lashed by huge seas and high winds whipped up from a low pressure system, which is moving slowly north.
Arung Samudera has been sailing the high seas with a crew of 20 navy personnel from various provinces in Indonesia.
The sailing vessel was built in 1991 and is now owned by the Indonesian Navy.
- AAP
