Original: In 2001, Christmas Island was the site of the Tampa controversy, in which the Australian government stopped a Norwegian ship, MV Tampa, from disembarking 438 rescued asylum seekers at Christmas Island.
Simplified: During 2001, Christmas Island received a large number of asylum seekers traveling by boat, most of them from the Middle East and intending to apply for asylum in Australia. The Norwegian cargo vessel MV Tampa rescued people from a sinking Indonesian fishing-boat Palapa.