Adelaide: Australian rescuers have picked up 32 asylum-seekers on two boats in trouble in the Indian Ocean off northern Australia.
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said 32 were trying to reach Australia when they were spotted by air patrols on Thursday off the coastal city of Darwin.
O'Connor said all 32 people were safe "and have indicated they wish to come to Australia."
They will be taken to Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory near Indonesia where Australia has a detention center that processes asylum claims.
Twenty-three boats carrying asylum-seekers have been intercepted in Australian waters this year, adding fuel to an ongoing political debate over illegal immigration.
