Ten Chinese nationals intending to sail their yacht to New Zealand and claim asylum are free to continue their journey after taking on food and water in Darwin on Australia’s north coast, officials said today.

Their boat was escorted into Darwin on Thursday after putting out a distress call.

The passengers say they are members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement banned in China.

An Immigration Department spokesperson said the government had no power to detain them and that some of the group had been given temporary visas to allow them to come ashore to replenish their supplies.

The group claims to have set sail from Malaysia last month and to have asked for assistance only after they ran out of food, national broadcaster ABC reported. They said they had been recognised as refugees by the United Nations and intended to claim asylum in New Zealand.

“We met in Malaysia at the UN and left Malaysia together by boat to go to New Zealand as refugees,” one of their number told ABC through an interpreter.

Falun Gong followers face imprisonment and other forms of repression in China.

Last month, the Falun Gong Association said some Chinese nationals were posing as Falun Gong followers to get residency in Australia.

Association spokesperson John Deller said bogus Falun Gong members arriving by air on tourist visas were making it harder for legitimate members to prove their claims and support their asylum applications.

- dpa