More than 430 mainly Afghan refugees rescued by a Norwegian freighter eight days ago were transferred to an Australian navy ship on Monday and set off on the next leg of their odyssey in search of a better life.
The 438 asylum seekers were transferred from the Norwegian ship Tampa to the Australian troop carrier HMAS Manoora, which set sail for Papua New Guinea shortly afterwards.
The transfer had been "successfully completed without incident," Christmas Island harbour master John O'Donnell said.
"The operation took slightly more than two and a half hours and was conducted in calm seas" off the coast of Christmas Island, a speck of Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, Mr O'Donnell told AFP.
Four crew members of the leaking Indonesian ferry from which the refugees were rescued were detained on Christmas Island and were likely to be charged with offences under the migration act, police said.
The HMAS Manoora was headed for Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, where the refugees were to be split into two groups and transferred to New Zealand and the tiny Pacific island of Nauru.
The refugees appeared calm, said Richard Danziger, head of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) delegation that observed the transfer.
"We know from talking to them yesterday that they were happy with the idea of getting off the Tampa and that apparently hasn't changed," he told AFP.
He said that "all their comforts are taken care of" on the Australian navy ship, which had comfortable beds and sufficient food.
Four IOM officials would travel with the refugees, he added.
"The four IOM officials onboard there are to register them and they will be counselling the migrants, making sure they stay informed of their situation and the options that may be open to them."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard brokered a deal for the refugees to be taken to New Zealand and Nauru via Papua New Guinea after rejecting international criticism for his refusal to allow the aslyum seekers to land on Australian soil.
Under a plan drawn up by Canberra, Papua New Guinea will be a staging post from which 150 refugees will fly to New Zealand and the remainder to Nauru.
Those assessed in New Zealand as genuine refugees qualifying for asylum would be permitted to stay there while those qualifying in Nauru would be sent to other countries, including Australia.
Australia, which is spending three million Australian dollars (£1.5 million) a day on the military operation, will pay Nauru all expenses for accommodating the refugees and processing their claims.
"We've done this purely on a humanitarian level," Nauru president Rene Harris told an Australian radio station. "We didn't do it to get anything from it."
The Tampa, which rescued the refugees from the leaking Indonesian ferry on August 26, resumed its aborted journey to Singapore, also setting off shortly after the transfer.
As the ship passed close by Christmas Island, locals at the Golden Bosun tavern set off fireworks and raised their glasses in a tribute to the Tampa's skipper and crew.
Norwegian ambassador to Australia Ove Thorsheim was travelling with ship.
"The atmosphere is good. The crew and the refugees are relieved and happy that a solution has been found," said Christian Bangsmoen, a Norway-based spokesman for Wallenius Wilhelmsen, owner of the freighter, before the ship set sail.
The Manoora and the Tampa moved alongside each other today about two nautical miles north of Christmas Island, where the Tampa has been idling since picking up the refugees in Indonesian waters.
Two refugees were transferred on rigid inflatable boats.
The transfer came after an Australian court lifted an injuction which had barred them from being moved as a civil rights group argued that they should be allowed to land on Australian territory.
Rights group the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties has filed a suit claiming the refugees were denied basic legal rights and calling for them to be allowed to enter Australia to have their claims processed.
The Federal Court in Melbourne could still rule that the Australian government has to accept the asylum seekers even as the HMAS Manoora sails for Port Moresby, a voyage expected to last between six and 10 days.
Mr Howard, trailing in the polls ahead of an election due by December but bolstered by overwhelming domestic support for his hardline stance against illegal immigration, continued today to shrug off the critics.
He told commercial radio he had received support for what he described as a "fair and humane plan" from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Mr Annan said the UN found the arrangements "acceptable," adding: "My main concern is that the refugees are treated humanely. We have been given assurances by the Australians they intend to do that."
UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson has criticised Australia's handling of the crisis, saying she believed the refugees should have been landed on Christmas Island rather than shunted around the Pacific.
AFP