A group of 63 asylum seekers, including four who swam ashore, have joined another group on the Cocos Islands awaiting transfer to detention on Christmas Island.

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said the asylum seekers who made it to shore were detained on their arrival.

“An additional four people left the vessel and swam to shore, where they were detained by waiting Customs and Border Protection and Australian Federal Police officers,” Mr Clare said in a statement.

Australian Customs Vessel Hervey Bay headed to the scene on Wednesday morning.

The group is having initial checks with Australian authorities on Cocos Island before they are transferred to Christmas Island.

More and more asylum seekers have been bound for the Cocos Islands in recent weeks, rather than heading for the usual target of Christmas Island.

Local resident Jack O’Donnell says he spotted a boat about 8am local time on Wednesday about 200 metres offshore.

“About 10 minutes later four of the refugees, they’re Tamils, swam with life jackets through the surf,” Mr O’Donnell told the ABC.

The boat was crowded, and one of the men who swam ashore told Mr O’Donnell in broken English there were 69 people on board who were exhausted and in need of food, he said.

“We were just worried that they might try and traverse the surf, which would be dangerous. Well, it would be catastrophic because it’s jagged reef,” Mr O’Donnell said.

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