Helen Davidson – Reports are coming out of Indonesia of a boat arriving at a West Java beach carrying asylum seekers who say they were transferred from their vessel into a lifeboat and turned back to Indonesian waters by Australian authorities.

Indonesian website Kompas on Thursday reported a boat carrying asylum seekers arrived on Pangandaran beach, on the southern coast of West Java on Wednesday night. Passengers said they had been intercepted by Australian authorities, loaded into another enclosed boat and turned back towards Indonesian waters. One passenger said they were at sea for around 10 days.

Pikiran Rakyat reported 34 passengers from Iran, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan were on board, and two Indonesian crew were being pursued by authorities. The passengers were reportedly in the custody of Indonesian authorities, but conflicting reports suggested there might be more passengers not yet detained.

Among the Iranian group was a pregnant woman and a number of children, Pikiran Rakyat reported. The same publication also claimed the vessel was an orange lifeboat, similar to one which arrived on Java last week and was thought to be one of 11 reportedly purchased by the Australian government for use in turnback operations.

At least five turnback operations are thought to have been conducted since December. The office of the Australian immigration minister, Scott Morrison, did not respond to requests for comment.