Australia is launching a criminal investigation into the Christmas Island shipwreck that killed at least 28 people, under people trafficking laws.
Questions have been asked about how the boat managed to elude the Australian agencies charged with watching the country's sea approaches, the BBC reports.
Christmas Island is in the Australian territory and has a detention centre.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said more bodies may be pulled from the sea after a boat carrying suspected asylum-seekers crashed into rocks near Flying Fish Cove in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday.
The government believes up to 100 people may have been on the boat, 30 more than originally thought.
They are believed to be from Iran and Iraq and and the victims include four babies and three children.
Forty-four people were rescued from the rough surf after the boat broke apart. Conditions described as extremely dangerous continued to hamper the search for bodies on Thursday.
Increasing numbers of people from Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan have been making their way to Australia in boats organised by people smugglers, the BBC reports.
"It is an evil trade," Ms Gillard said. "But I believe Australians are responding to these events today as human beings."
The route of the vessel and the identity of who organised the journey are still unclear.
