Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Australian rescue teams called off a search today for nine people missing after their boat sank off the northwestern coast, as the government said 27 surviving Sri Lankans are being taken to an immigration detention center on Christmas Island for processing.

“This is a tragic incident,” Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said in a statement. “Medical advice received indicates that there is no further chance of survivability.”

The boat, carrying 39 people, sank in the Indian Ocean late Nov. 1 about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northwest of Cocos Island, according to the government. One body was pulled from the water and two were spotted and not retrieved. Eight aircraft, including air force planes, were involved in the search for nine other people, including two boys aged 13 and 14, O’Connor said.

The survivors are being taken by boat to Christmas Island, an Australian territory more than 800 kilometers off the northwestern coast, where authorities will determine whether they were traveling to Australia to seek asylum.

Dozens of boats carrying asylum seekers have been intercepted off Australia’s northwestern coast this year, many of them with refugees from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government is under pressure to cut their numbers from opposition lawmakers, who say weak border controls are causing the influx.

Since winning office in November 2007, Rudd has dismantled his predecessor John Howard’s “Pacific Solution” policy of detaining refugees in island camps in third countries and speeded up the assessment of asylum claims. The government last year closed detention centers on the Pacific island of Nauru and on Manus, a province in Papua New Guinea.

All asylum seekers intercepted at sea are now detained on Christmas Island, an Australian territory more than 800 kilometers off the northwestern coast, where they have access to legal assistance and an independent review of decisions.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 3, 2009 19:03 EST