Boat arrives as builders raise compound on Christmas Island

WORKS are furiously under way to open a new 400-bed compound at the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre after the surprise arrival of 92 Sri Lankans at the weekend left just 36 beds to spare.

There were 2004 people in immigration detention on the island yesterday, and a spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship said current capacity was 2040.

But the spokeswoman said a new 400-bed compound on the edge of the Immigration Detention Centre was close to completion, and would be opened at the end of this month or at the beginning of next month depending on factors such as rain.

On Saturday, residents of the suburb known as Kampong woke to find a big wooden boat carrying 92 men, women and children on the edge of Flying Fish Cove.

The boat, which is thought to have travelled direct from Sri Lanka, had been intercepted northwest of the island the previous night by HMAS Albany.

Navy and Customs officers had boarded the boat and brought everyone ashore at about 8.30am local time. The boat was then taken over the horizon and burned.

The steady rise in the number of asylum-seekers on the island has meant many must now share air-conditioned tents at the Immigration Detention Centre.

There are also tents at another compound known as Phosphate Hill, between the island's rubbish tip and swimming pool.

Outside the detention centre, the island's accommodation shortage could soon be eased when 180 immigration workers move into newly refurbished blocks of flats purchased by the department.

Some of the island's guards are about to move into 50 refurbished rooms at the mothballed casino.

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship currently accommodates almost 300 workers in duplexes and units.