More about that "pirate" attack off Sri Lanka

Following up on this earlier post Pirates Off Sri Lanka, here's a clarifying report "Asylum seekers turn pirates, seize boat, attack crew off Sri Lanka":

The man rescued by Capt Petersen said he believed two colleagues had drowned, though Sri Lankan police said it was possible they were still aboard the Theja.

"He told us he was a fisherman from Sri Lanka and their fishing boat was attacked ... by some people who wanted their boat for emigration to Australia," Capt Petersen said.

"There were six people on this fishing boat. At least four of them were tied up and thrown into the sea.

Worth reading the whole thing.

More here, which has the great quote, ''There was some degree of criminality,'' he said.

It is also possible this is one of those things where the would-be immigrants were facing attack by the boat crew they thought they had a deal with (not an uncommon thing in history - just ask Vietnamese boat people) and defended themselves with some vigor.

I still don't think we have the full story.

Things must be tough in Sri Lanka to prompt this sort of desperate action.

UPDATE: A nice piece on a portion of the human smuggling racket to Australia from last year at The Telegraph's "The inside story of people smuggling to Australia"