Australian PM condemns 'scum' people smugglers

The small wooden fishing boat was carrying 47 Afghan asylum seekers and two crew when the blast occurred off Australia's coast on Thursday.

The death toll could rise, because two people were still missing at the explosion site hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the coast and five others were on life support in an Australian hospital, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and hospital officials said.

Rudd said his government would take a tough line against people smugglers, who are paid by would-be immigrants to transport them to a new country. In Australia's case, the asylum seekers often come by boat from Indonesia.

"We are dedicating more resources to combat people smuggling than any other government in Australian history," Rudd told reporters in Sydney, adding that people smugglers were the "the scum of the earth."

"People smugglers are the vilest form of human life because they trade on the tragedy of others," Rudd said. "We've seen this lowest form of human life at work in what we saw on the high seas yesterday."