E/CN.4/2002/94 page 20 deaths of 356 migrants, including women and children. It had been reported that the boat had sailed from the island of Java and that, several hours after the sinking, 44 persons had been rescued. These had testified that, when they realized that the boat was becoming overloaded, they were unwilling to continue boarding, but were forced to do so at gunpoint by at least one Indonesian policeman and other men accompanying him. 75. By a letter dated 12 November 2001, the Government of Indonesia informed the Special Rapporteur that, according to information it had gathered, over 350 people of Iraqi, Iranian, Afghan, Palestinian and Algerian nationality had died in the tragic incident and that, on the strength of the survivors’ testimonies, the police had arrested an Egyptian citizen who was suspected of involvement in smuggling the migrants. It was also reported that the Egyptian citizen had been aided and abetted by a local policeman and three Iraqis. According to the Government of Indonesia, the police officer in question had been detained and was helping with the ongoing investigation. The Government informed the Special Rapporteur that, according to a police reconstruction of the events, the migrants had been transported in four buses from Bogor, West Java, to the port of Bakaheuni in Merak, to Banten and then to Lampung, where they had stayed in a hotel for two days before boarding the vessel. The convoy was said to have been escorted and rigorously guarded by the police officer who had been detained and several men wearing military-style fatigues. The Government of Indonesia stated that in a bid to curb the arrival of new asylum-seekers in the country, it had limited the issue of entry permits to citizens of certain countries. The Government considered that it would be possible to counter the movement of illegal migrants in the country by setting up proper quarantine facilities, with the support of interested neighbouring countries, to discourage the use of Indonesian territory for purposes of transit. Morocco 76. On 9 February 2001 the Special Rapporteur contacted the Government of Morocco in connection with allegations of the death of 10 migrants and the disappearance of 20 others who had sailed from the Moroccan coast in a boat which was wrecked off the coast of Spain. According to information received by the Special Rapporteur, 10 corpses were found 20 kilometres from Tarifa, in Andalusia, including the corpse of a child of 10. Estimates reported to the Special Rapporteur indicate that some 500 migrants die each year while attempting to reach Spain by sea, most of them being victims of migrant-smuggling. C. Visits 77. At the invitation of the Government of Ecuador, the Special Rapporteur visited Ecuador between 5 and 16 November 2001. The report of her visit has been issued as an addendum to the present report (E/CN.4/2002/94/Add.1). 78. At the invitation of the Government of Mexico and the Government of the United States of America, the Special Rapporteur planned to make a joint visit to the border between the two countries, and a visit to Mexico and its southern border, between 18 September and 9 October 2001. However, as a result of the tragic events which occurred in the United States of America on 11 September 2001, the visit was postponed by agreement between the Governments of the two countries and the Special Rapporteur. The Special Rapporteur