FORTY-FOUR suspected asylum seekers are still missing after their boat sank off the Indonesian coast of Java.
A baby boy, a 10-year-old girl and a woman died in the incident and as many as 157 people have been rescued, according to Associated Press (AP).
The boat sank in heavy seas off the Indonesian fishing town of Cidaun in western Java.
Rescuers set out from the town in their own boats and vessels lent by police and fishermen.
Local police spokesman Martinus Sitompul told AP around 204 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq were on the boat.
They began their journey on Tuesday on a smaller boat from Jayanti, a coastal town in Cianjur, and were supposed to meet a larger ship at sea to complete the voyage to Australia.
Their overloaded boat, built to carry only 150 passengers, sank about nine hours into the trip due to a leak.
Some of the would-be refugees scrambled for the lifeboat, while others swam before being rescued.
A search for 44 people believed missing continued on Wednesday with police, fishermen and local villagers scouring the waters.
Rochmali, a rescuer at the scene, told AP the exact number missing remains unclear since some survivors may have fled to avoid authorities.
The Australian Maritime and Safety Authority told AAP it had offered to help Indonesian authorities with the rescue operation if needed.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the government is monitoring the unfolding tragedy.
"All of our agencies are actively following this and ensuring that everything that can be done is being done," Mr Rudd told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.
He said the incident underlined the need for a tough asylum seeker policy.
"We are seeing too many drownings, we are seeing too many sinkings, too many innocent people being lost at sea."
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the only way to end tragedies like this was to stop the boats from coming.
"This is a tragic reminder of what happens when policy change in Australia puts the people smugglers back in business," he told reporters on the Gold Coast.
"I'm not crass enough to directly blame anyone in this country for tragedies at sea.
"But Mr Rudd should be man enough to admit that it was a terrible tragic mistake that his government made back in 2008 when they reversed the policies that worked."
Immigration Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday he would consider the government's tough new asylum seeker policy a success when the drownings stopped.
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