Guards Hurt In Breakout At Woomera
Central Coast Herald
Tuesday February 4, 2003
SECURITY guards were attacked with tyre levers as six asylum seekers escaped the Woomera detention centre's top-security compound yesterday, the Federal Government said.
Two guards were treated in hospital after the breakout, in which members of a balaclava-clad group who helped the detainees escape tried to drive over detention officers, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said.
The male escapees, all alleged to have been involved in fires and riots at the South Australian desert camp over the Christmas period, eluded police searches and remained at large late yesterday.
The three Iranians, two Afghans and one Iraqi had been held in Woomera's most secure "Oscar" compound, where asylum seekers who present management difficulties are detained.
They escaped when a group of people wearing balaclavas drove to the centre about 1.15am (CDT) yesterday and used a large car jack to open fencing.
The group attacked detention officers with tyre levers and tried to drive over them, Mr Ruddock said.
"Those aiding and abetting the escape attempted to drive over detention officers as they were trying to constrain the escape," he said in Canberra.
"The report I've read says that one of the detention officers was attacked around the legs with a tyre lever.
"Another was hit in the chest with a similar implement.
"This was premeditated, very deliberate."
© 2003 Central Coast Herald