The search for more survivors from an asylum seeker boat that sank off Indonesia was continuing on Friday despite authorities having already conceded a crucial rescue window may have already passed.
A total of 55 survivors were rescued on Thursday, with the majority having spent the night aboard the Australian navy vessel HMAS Maitland, AAP reports.
Almost 100 people remain missing, including women and children.
Search and rescue teams had scoured the Sunda Strait for asylum seekers who had been on the wooden boat which put out a distress call early on Wednesday.
Three of the survivors are seriously injured, with one reportedly bitten by a shark while waiting to be rescued.
Six men who were the first to be plucked from the water about 3.30am local time on Thursday were aboard the merchant ship APL Bahrain.
Both ships were part of a small fleet of vessels that remained at the search sight overnight ahead of the resumption of the rescue operation on Friday morning.
However authorities have already conceded that the prospect of finding more survivors would have diminished significantly.
Australia's Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said on Thursday the window of opportunity for rescue would close after about 48 hours
Almost 300 asylum-seekers have already died along the same route, in the Sunda Strait between Java and Christmas Island, since December this year.
