Border Force denies scuttling asylum boat

Border Force says it helped an Indonesian asylum seeker boat that was in distress but denies scuttling it, saying it sank by itself.

Border Force has denied it scuttled an asylum seeker boat in the Timor Sea. (AAP)

Border Force has denied it scuttled an asylum seeker boat in the Timor Sea.

Six Bangladeshi men along with their two Indonesian crew were offloaded onto a local fishing boat off the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara.

East Nusa Tenggara water police director Teddy JS Marbun says the men left the port of Tenau in Kupang on March 3 heading for Australia.

Border Force commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg confirmed that an Australian maritime patrol assisted an Indonesian vessel in distress.

"Vessel was NOT scuttled - was unseaworthy and sank," he said on Twitter.