A Papuan family who reportedly made it to Australian waters by boat this week is said to be in hiding in Papua New Guinea.
Australia's Customs Service has called off the search for a boatload which began after reports emerged that six asylum seekers from the Indonesian province were on an island in Torres Strait.
Jakarta-based journalist Mark Forbes says the fisherman who took the family in his boat has told him that after he'd returned them to PNG, the family went into hiding in fear of Indonesian security forces.
He has confirmed that union organiser Paulus Samkakai, a critic of Indonesia's Papua policies, escaped with his wife and four children from Merauke at the weekend headed for Deliverance Island.
"It's certainly true that that was their destination and may well still be their destination if they can get on another boat. But they simply got lost en route and decided to seek refuge in PNG because their boat was running low on fuel."
Jakarta-based journalist Mark Forbes
