A rescue operation is under way after a boat carrying about 40 people sank off the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean, Australian officials have said.
At least 19 people have been rescued by a merchant ship that is in the area.
But a spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said there was grave concern for the safety of any other people still in the water.
The Cocos Islands - an Australian ocean territory - lie roughly halfway between Australia and Sri Lanka.
Amsa said it had received a distress signal on Sunday reporting that a ship had a hole in its hull and was taking on water in rough seas about 350 nautical miles (650km) north-west of the island group.
The chief of the Australian Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, told reporters that a Taiwanese trawler had been first to get to the scene late on Sunday night
"When the first ship got there this vessel was still intact," he said.
"Somehow or other during the process of the interaction between the ship and the trawler, and also the stricken vessel, there's been a capsize and people have ended up in the water," he added.
By the time the merchant ship, LNG Pioneer, had arrived, the boat had already sunk, he said.
The LNG Pioneer and the trawler are continuing to search for more survivors. An Australian military aircraft has been sent to the area.
"The LNG Pioneer is a large vessel and they are trying their best with liferafts and their lifeboat to recover those in the water," Amsa spokeswoman Rhianne Robson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
But rescuers said the weather was hampering attempts to reach those people still believed to be in the water.
"Fierce Debate"
It is unclear where the vessel was heading or whether it was carrying asylum seekers.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said at the current time, all efforts were "legitimately dedicated to attending to lives at risk at sea".
"Our assets have been deployed, we have co-ordinated with other vessels in the area. This is a very difficult search environment," he said.
Home Minister Brendan O'Connor told reporters the safety of the passengers was "the first and only matter that is of concern at this point" but that their status would be investigated later.
"We do not at this point determine whether the passengers aboard the vessel were seeking asylum. We will do this once this rescue mission is over," he said.
Officials told the media the rescued people could be taken to Australian's immigration detention centre on Christmas Island.
Dozens of boats carrying asylum seekers, mostly from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, have been intercepted trying to reach Australia this year, sparking a fierce political and public debate.
On Saturday, the government announced the capacity of the Christmas Island detention centre would be increased to more than 2,000 beds to cope with the influx.
Source: BBC/Asia-Pacific
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