An asylum seeker boat is believed to have run aground at a small beach on Christmas Island, a local says.

A man identified as Chris said he had heard a boatload of Sri Lankan asylum seekers had run aground on Greta Beach, on the island’s east coast.

“Apparently their boat has wrecked,” he told Macquarie Radio on Thursday.

“The navy have raced over there. I heard the situation was quite bad.”

He said the beach was small and surrounded by extremely high cliffs.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said border protection command had received “reports of an unconfirmed nature” on the island’s southeast coast.

“Details of the incident are not clear at this point and persons who were involved in this incident are being questioned by on-island agencies,” he said in a statement.

“On-island agencies and border protection command assets are also responding and are on scene.”

It’s believed the boat arrived about 11am WST.