Burmese refugees flown to Nauru

September 18, 2006 - 11:17AM

Seven Burmese asylum seekers have been flown to Australia's remote offshore detention centre on the Pacific island of Nauru.

A spokesman for Immigration minister Amanda Vanstone confirmed the group had been flown from Christmas Island yesterday.

The men left behind an eighth member of their group, who remains on Christmas Island receiving medical treatment.

The refugees were guarded on the flight by 19 security personnel, a force that an Immigration department spokesman said was "pretty well standard".

The refugees were taken to Christmas Island last month after being picked up by HMAS Darwin on the isolated Ashmore Reef.

They are deemed to not have reached Australian soil.

This leaves them in legal limbo without access to the Australian legal system and the appeals system afforded refugees who reach the mainland.

AAP