Australia is to investigate reports that asylum seekers at one of its detention camps in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are being raped and tortured.

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s prime minister, has said that no more boat-people will be allowed to resettle in Australia and unauthorised arrivals will be sent to camps in PNG, according to a new agreement between the two countries.

Rudd said on Wednesday that the sinking of a refugee boat off the coast of West Java, Indonesia, on Tuesday evening justified his new offshore-processing policy, denounced by human rights groups.

Officials said on Wednesday that at least nine people, including children had died, and that 189 other suspected asylum seekers had been rescued. The search for survivors is continuing.

“This … sends a very clear message to people smugglers to stop sending people by boat to Australia,” Rudd told a news conference in Melbourne.

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