A boat carrying about 200 refugees from the island of Sri Lanka has capsized off Australia’s Christmas Islands on Thursday.
The spokesperson for Indonesia's search and rescue service which is coordinating the searcha at present, Gagah Prakoso, said the boat "coming from Sri Lanka and going to Christmas Island".
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has confirmed 110 people have been rescued from the sea. Western Australia police commissioner Karl O'Callaghan told reporters:
"Some of the very early reports suggest that up to 75 people may have drowned, but I do stress that they are unconfirmed at this stage,"
"We are very concerned for a large number of people who may have drowned,"
"We know from what we've been hearing from the aircraft that there's not 200 life jackets on board."
The ship is said to have capsized around noon local time in Indonesian waters, 120 nautical miles away from the Christmas Islands.
Several Aircraft and two Australian military ships have been deployed to carry out searches throughout the night. Another 2 merchant ships and two Indonesian navy ships are also said to be assisting the rescue operations.
There has been an increase in refugees fleeing Sri Lanka and attempting the perilous journey across the Indian Ocean to Australia.
