Vietnamese asylum seekers recaptured in Australia

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Eighteen Vietnamese asylum seekers have been recaptured after escaping from a Darwin detention centre on Friday night.

The men escaped from the Northern Territory Immigration Detention Centre about 10.30pm (local time), the Immigration Department said in a statement.

It said thirteen of the men were found first, with the remaining escapees located later.

All the men were back in detention at noon on Saturday.

The men, all low-risk detainees, had recently been interned in detention as "irregular maritime arrivals" after their vessels were intercepted at sea, the department said.

The department was commissioning a full independent review of the escapes, it said in a statement.

It was also seeking an urgent report from its service provider Serco.

-AAP