Children among Cocos boat missing

Two children are believed to be among the 11 suspected asylum seekers missing for almost 48 hours since their boat went down northwest of the Cocos Islands.

Hopes of finding them alive have all but faded, with the sighting of two more bodies in the water, and comes as the Australian federal opposition warned that Kevin Rudd's border protection policy was destined to put more lives at risk.

At least one person is dead and another 11 are missing, including two boys, aged 13 and 14, feared drowned in the Indian Ocean when their boat sank 350 nautical miles from the Cocos Islands on Sunday.

Two bodies sighted in the water on Tuesday have yet to be recovered.

The boat was believed to have been carrying 39 suspected asylum seekers when it sank, all males claiming to be from Sri Lanka, the federal government said.

Twenty-seven survivors have since been taken aboard the commercial ship, the LNG Pioneer, which was one of the first on the scene during the search and rescue operation.

They will be taken to Christmas Island to be processed, where they will be given appropriate medical treatment and mental health support, including grief counselling.

"Their health and wellbeing is our first priority," Australian Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said on Tuesday.

"Other checks, including identity and reasons for travel, will commence in due course."

A Taiwanese fishing trawler on Tuesday departed the area and was replaced by a Japanese vessel, which joined seven aircraft in the search.

Amid clear signs the electorate is losing faith in Mr Rudd's handling of the asylum seeker issue, opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull said he would put in place policies that would stop people smugglers heading to Australia.

"Every Australian government's policy should be to secure our borders and ensure that people smuggling does not occur and there are no, or as few as possible, unauthorised maritime arrivals of asylum seekers," Mr Turnbull said.

"Under a Turnbull government we would put in place measures that would over time stop the people smugglers."

Liberal frontbencher Tony Abbott linked Mr Rudd's border protection policies to the sinking of the boat, saying they "encourage people to take to the sea in leaky boats and give us the kind of tragedy that seems to be unfolding now in the Indian Ocean".

"... you look at this terrible tragedy that's unfolding in the Indian Ocean at the moment, and you've got to say this is a comprehensive failure and it's all the prime minister's fault."

Mr Abbott later moved to clarify the remarks, saying he did not blame Mr Rudd for the tragedy.

"He's responsible for policy and if the policy doesn't stop boats from coming, tragedies inevitably are likely to happen from time to time. But they're not the direct fault of the prime minister," he said.

MORE LIVES AT RISK

Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone warned more lives would be put at risk by the Rudd government's border protection policies.

"We now have an even bigger problem than there was before in terms of safety and the tragedy that is likely to ensue," Dr Stone said.

"This is a deadly business, there's no doubt about it.

"If you just keep providing more and more safe landings in terms of Christmas Island but don't address the pull factors at all ... then you're going to see these terrible tragedies just keep happening."

The comments follow the latest Newspoll, which shows the electorate is losing faith in Mr Rudd's handling of the asylum seeker issue.

The poll, conducted at the weekend and published on Tuesday, shows support for Labor has fallen seven percentage points to 52 percent on a two-party preferred basis.

Mr Rudd slipped by two points to 63 percent in terms of preferred prime minister.

But the prime minister has refused to back away from his policy stance, maintaining it's hardline but humane.

"What the government is doing is ensuring that it implements its tough, responsible but fair policy, the one that we took to the people prior to the last election, and it's the one which serves Australia's long-term interests," Mr Rudd told ABC Radio.

"It's tough and hardline on people smugglers, it's humane on asylum seekers, that is a responsible policy in the national interest."

In Indonesia, the stand-off between authorities and 78 asylum seekers aboard the Australian Customs vessel, the Oceanic Viking, is showing no signs of being resolved.

The group of Tamils is refusing to disembark the vessel, which has been anchored off the coast of Bintan Island for more than two weeks, waiting to transfer the asylum seekers to the Tanjung Pinang detention centre.

- AAP