Sydney - Boats carrying hundreds of asylum seekers across the Indian Ocean to Australia are at risk of sinking, news reports said Saturday. Quoting Australian Navy sources, national broadcaster ABC said naval chiefs had put the HMAS Armidale on standby to assist in any rescue effort.
One boat is believed to be in Malaysian waters and the other is off the coast of Indonesia, officials said.
More than 30 boats chartered by people smugglers have arrived in Australia this year, compared with just seven for the whole of 2008.
Nearly 2,000 asylum-seekers have arrived since August, filling immigration detention centres and increasing the pressure on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to stem the tide of illegal arrivals.
Rudd telephoned Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week to plead for help in tackling the smuggling. Indonesian authorities then intercepted a boat carrying 260 Sri Lankans who had left Java en route to Australia.
The migrants were returned to port in West Java province. Some are now on hunger strike and demanding that Australia take them in.
Most recent arrivals have been from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Iraq.
