Major aid agencies have urged Australia, Indonesia and Norway to quickly resolve the dilemma of over 400 mostly Afghan asylum seekers aboard a cargo ship stranded in the Indian Ocean.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said they were concerned genuine asylum-seekers fleeing persecution might be aboard the freighter.
Indonesia said today it took no responsibility for the 438 refugees, despite earlier having said it would accept them on humanitarian grounds.
The immigrants were on their way to Australia from Indonesia on Sunday when they were rescued from a sinking wooden ferry by the Norwegian-owned Tampa.
Australia has also refused entry to the vessel, now anchored in international waters off Australia's Christmas Island.
Many of those aboard have started a hunger strike, and the freighter's captain has warned of increased tension and worsening health conditions.
"It is a tough situation, a difficult issue of international law. It is hard to pinpoint responsibility," UNHCR spokeswoman Ms Millicent Mutuli told Reutersin Geneva.
Ms Mutuli welcomed Australia's offer to bring the migrants food and medical supplies - an operation under way by Australian troops.
Ms Niurka Pineiro, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based IOM, said it would provide accommodation, food and medical services should the Indonesian government agree to receive the group on humanitarian grounds.
According to IOM, many migrants buy package tours from smugglers in Pakistan and elsewhere. They travel via Malaysia, Thailand or Cambodia and then board Indonesian fishing boats to get to Christmas Island, south of Java, or to Ashmore Reef, south of Timor.
IOM says 1,130 migrants, mainly from Afghanistan and Iraq, are spread throughout the archipelago awaiting determination of their status.