Fifty five refugees have been rescued at sea after their boat, believed to be carrying over 140 people, disappeared on its way to Australia.

Indonesian officials picked up the asylum seekers from Australian authorities after they were rescued by a Bahrain merchant ship and brought them into Merak port in Java's Banten province.

"For three days we were on a boat. After three days the boat broke. Four days we were in the water inside. Without boat, without life jacket, without everything. God is so great that we are still alive right now," said one survivor.

Since 2001, almost 1,000 people have died at sea while attempting to reach Australia, as a result of overcrowded and often unseaworthy refugee boats from Indonesia.