A BOATLOAD of 44 Sri Lankan asylum seekers was last night due to leave Indonesia, where they have been stranded for a week, headed for Australia after Indonesian authorities said they would give them a navy escort out to sea. 
The group, which includes a pregnant woman and nine children, has said they wanted to go to Australia. But their journey, which began 1700km away in India, was hampered by bad weather, causing them to pull into Aceh, on the northernmost tip of Indonesia, to shelter and fix the boat's engine.
The group has not wanted to get off the boat in Indonesia and Indonesian authorities have denied them the right to disembark.
Police fired a warning shot in the air late on Thursday when several women jumped off the boat, which has been marooned on a beach at Lhoknga and Indonesia has said they cannot get off as they have no travel documents.
Late yesterday the Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah visited the boat after the group was given 7 tonnes of fuel, food and water to set them up for their onward -journey.
The group has said it is heading to Australia.They are understood to be from the Tamil minority, which is persecuted in Sri Lanka.