Two teenage asylum seekers reported to have escaped from a detention centre in Darwin were desperate and under duress, their former school principal says.
The 16-year-old asylum seekers, who had previously been living in community detention in Adelaide, had escaped from the Darwin facility, ABC radio reported on Thursday.
The Vietnamese boys were sent to the detention centre about a month ago.
Woodville High School principal Meredith Edwards said staff and students at the school were devastated that the boys had been sent to Darwin.
"These are 16-year-old boys and up until now, they've committed no crime," she told ABC Radio.
"I can only imagine how desperate and under duress they felt that they would take this alleged action. I just want our boys back."
An online petition calling for the two boys to be returned to community detention in Adelaide has attracted almost 12,000 signatures.
Ms Edwards said the boys had attended school every day and played for a soccer team.
"We don't know where they are, we don't know how safe they are," she said.
"There's not a big Vietnamese community in Darwin."
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the boys were "scared for their lives" and claimed the government had failed its duty of care.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has been contacted for comment.
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