Wednesday August 29, 2001 |

CHRISTMAS ISLAND, Australia - Squeezed onto a Norwegian cargo ship under a harsh tropical sun, hundreds of refugees refused to eat and threatened to jump overboard yesterday as Australia denied them entry for a second day. The United Nations issued a plea for compassion.

Dozens of the 438 people rescued from a sinking Indonesian ferry Monday - most of them Afghans - stared out to sea as they lay listlessly on the vessel off the coast of this remote Australian island. Australia, Indonesia and Norway wrangled over who should take responsibility.

Many were falling sick, shielded from the sun only by tarps strung between containers on the deck of the red-hulled Tampa, a Norwegian cargo ship outfitted to hold only a few dozen crew members, the ship's owners said.

''There are many sick people with diarrhea and scabies, some pregnant women and others refusing to eat,'' Hans C. Bangsmoen, spokesman for the Wilhelm Wilhelmsen company, said in Oslo, Norway, after speaking with the ship's captain. ''We have no medicines left, only bandages, and we are trying to cope as well as we can.''

Food and medical supplies from Australia had not yet made it to the ship by late last night. Doctors were expected to board the vessel later in the day.

Meanwhile, the United Nations urged compassion.

''We appreciate this is a difficult issue of international law,'' said Millicent Mutuli, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. ''We also appreciate that Australia has offered medical assistance. But we would like to urge Australia to act according to humanitarian principles.''

It was not immediately clear how the Afghans made it to Indonesia. But there has been a wave of Afghan asylum seekers washing up on Australian shores from Indonesia in recent months, prompting officials to believe that an organized group is bringing them over.

Australia is a popular destination among Asian refugees because they believe Australian courts are generous in granting visas.

Australia's tough line in refusing to accept the refugees comes as Prime Minister John Howard seeks re-election later this year with many voters increasingly unhappy about the large sums of money spent housing and caring for asylum seekers.

Howard said international law stipulated that the ship return to the port nearest the rescue - Merak, in Indonesia.

Indonesia appeared to offer a way out of the crisis yesterday by saying it would accept the boat and the refugees ñ but later backed away from the offer.

The ship's owners refused to authorize the Tampa to leave the area with the refugees on board. The Tampa is registered for no more than a crew of 26, and does not have safety equipment for more than 40 people, they said.

And the Tampa's radio officer, Ramesh Irongar, said the refugees threatened to keep up the hunger strike until Australia lets them in and warned they would riot if turned away.

Norway's Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland urged Australia to take the people in.

''Our position is that it is common practice and custom to let refugees ashore in the nearest port,'' he told Norwegian state broadcaster NRK.

Four people were unconscious and two pregnant woman complained of stomach pain, ship Capt. Arne Rinnan said.

''We have limited medical aid on board ... the sanitary condition is very poor and there are not enough blankets to keep them warm at night,'' he said.

But Howard said late yesterday that a doctor who had spoken by phone to some of the asylum seekers decided they were not as ill as they had been claiming.

''One of them was completely feigned. The other three were very mild,'' the prime minister said.

His hard-line stance drew fire Tuesday from activists and politicians.

''It's harsh, it's inhuman, and it is going to create a rising resentment with other governments, as well as many people who are more humanitarian within the Australian community,'' said Greens Sen. Bob Brown.

But residents on Christmas Island, a lush tropical outcrop 220 miles south of Indonesia's main island, Java, are losing patience with the rising human tide washing up on their shores.

''People are getting sick and tired of this,'' said Shane Myers, a 33-year-old plumbing supervisor who has lived there for 14 months. ''Initially I felt sorry for these people but after so many times, people on the island are starting to resent the fact that the refugees are demanding special treatment.''

Myers said he had seen 11 decrepit Indonesian fishing boats crammed with hundreds of refugees limp into the island's Flying Fish Cove.