Customs officers and West Australian police are attempting to intercept an asylum seeker boat heading towards the Pilbara coast after it sailed near an oil and gas facility.
Staff aboard the Santos-operator MODEC Venture II FPSO vessel, some 154km from Dampier, notified Customs and Border Protection's local office just before 1am (WST) on Friday of a small wooden vessel with several people onboard.
They were waving at the workers, a Customs spokeswoman said.
"The vessel remained near the floating platform for a period of time but it didn't approach the platform," she said.
"It has since departed the vicinity of the platform and is now heading towards Dampier."
WA police were assisting the Customs-led response, the spokeswoman said.
The northwest-based Water Police deployed the largest vessel in its fleet, the 22-metre Delphinus, police spokesman Samuel Dinnison said.
He said the boat was used for deep sea and extended operations, and was sufficiently equipped to allow its passengers to live on it for up to a fortnight.
It is the third time in recent months an asylum seeker boat has come close to the WA coast.
On Sunday afternoon, a vessel carrying 84 mainly Vietnamese people was detected about 50km north northwest of Broome.
In April, a rickety vessel carrying 60 people managed to sail into Geraldton port, surprising onlookers.
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