REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Two dozen asylum seekers stranded in Indonesia said Australian authorities exploded the lifeboat that carried them to Christmas Island then sent them back in a lifeboat, Indonesian officials said Tuesday.

The Indonesia Search and Rescue Agency evacuated 26 migrants after the local navy found the lifeboat stranded Monday near Agropeni beach in Kebumen district of Central Java. The migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Iran were being held at the local immigration office in the nearby district of Cilacap, said Imam Prawira, the office's head of investigation and enforcement, said.

Prawira said, according a Pakistani migrant, they rejected around the border by Australia, which transferred them into the lifeboat. Kebumen police Capt. Warsidi said two of three Indonesian crewmen were being questioned while another escaped. The crewmen claimed to have received just 10 million rupiah (860 USD) out of 30 million (2,585 USD) promised by the migrants once they arrived in Australia, Warsidi said.

According to Kebumen police, the migrants left for the Australian territory of Christmas Island from West Java last Wednesday. Three days later they arrived around the border but were intercepted by an Australian warship which exploded their wooden boat.