Indonesian navy ship runs aground in Australia

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Indonesian naval sailing vessel ran aground on the Australian coast as it headed to Sydney for a tall ships show during an Asia-Pacific summit next month, police said Thursday.

The 18 naval officers of the 35-metre KRI Arung Samudera were found on Rainbow Beach north of Brisbane on the east coast after the boat got into trouble at Inskip Point in wild weather, police said.

The ship had been sailing from Darwin in northern Australia to Brisbane and then on to Sydney to join six other majestic sailing ships in a show during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit early next month.

The men were found wet and shivering in their lifejackets on the beach road shortly after dawn by local man Bob Elmer, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

"I was just coming back from Bullock Point and there was about a dozen people standing on the road," he said.
Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie told parliament some details of the event were still unclear.

"The men have been taken to the Rainbow police station and the police have requested assistance from the local SES (emergency services) unit in the form of blankets and other welfare," he said.

"Police have also asked the SES to stand by at the site of the stranded ship while the appropriate federal authorities are advised."
No details on the condition of the ship were provided.

The three-masted Arung Samudera, built as a fast and luxurious sailing yacht in New Zealand, was commissioned into the Indonesian navy as a training ship in 1996.