New asylum seekers reportedly spotted off coast

A small vessel believed to be carrying asylum seekers was seen off Australia's remote west coast on Monday, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported. It is the first sighting in two years of a boat carrying refugees close to shore.

Australia has vowed to prevent asylum seekers from reaching its shores, turning boats back to Indonesia when it can and sending those it cannot to camps in impoverished Papua New Guinea and Nauru in the South Pacific for long-term detention.

Australia's Department of Immigration said it routinely does not comment on "on water" operations.