BANDUNG (Indonesia), July 24: Rescuers were searching on Wednesday for dozens of asylum seekers still believed missing after their boat sank in Indonesian waters on the way to Australia. More than 150 survivors were brought to safety and three bodies were recovered.

The incident comes days after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd changed Australia's refugee policy so that people who arrive by boat will no longer be allowed to settle there.

The move was a response to domestic political pressure and a string of accidents involving rickety boats packed with asylum seekers bound for Australia.

Local police spokesman Col Martinus Sitompul said 157 people have been recovered from the boat that sank on Tuesday night about 5 kms off the coast of West Java's Cianjur district. Among the survivors was a pregnant Sri Lankan woman who was being treated at a health centre in the town of Cidaun. A baby boy, a 10-year-old girl and a woman were identified as the dead, he added.

Sitompul said the group was believed to consist of around 204 migrants from Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq. They departed Tuesday morning from Jayanti, a coastal town in Cianjur, using a smaller boat that was supposed to meet a larger ship at sea to complete the journey 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 migrants scrambled for the lifeboat, while others swam before being rescued, he said citing Iraqi survivor Ali Akbar.

A search for the 44 migrants believed missing continued Wednesday with police, fishermen and local villagers scouring the waters.

Rochmali, a rescuer at the scene who goes by one name, said the exact number missing remains unclear since some survivors may have fled to avoid authorities. The asylum seeker issue has been a longstanding dilemma for both Indonesia and Australia. Last week, Indonesia decided to stop issuing visas on arrival to Iranians because a growing number of them have been caught smuggling drugs or using Indonesia as a transit point for seeking asylum in Australia.—AP