Fear for four Australians and three other passengers whose charter boat never returned to their resort on a private island in Indonesia

Four young Australians on a surfing holiday are among the seven missing after their charter boat failed to return to their resort on a private island in Indonesia.

They were among a group of 12 Australians in two wooden sloops traveling between Nias Island and the Pinang Surf resort in the Banyak Islands, off the west coast of the mainland, when bad weather hit the vessel on Sunday.

Indonesian authorities have named the four Australians Elliot Foote, Steph Weisse, Will Teagle and Jordan Short.

The other boat was able to find refuge on an island halfway to their destination, Sarang Alu, notorious for its dangerous conditions.

But the ship with the four Australians and three Indonesian crew members would have continued to make the crossing despite the treacherous weather.

The four were scattered on two wooden fishing boats making their way across a treacherous stretch of ocean between the islands of Nias and Banyak (stock image)

Speaking to the media, Octavianto, head of Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency Nias Island, said search teams had been sent to find the Aussies.

“Last night, Pinang Resort reported that a speedboat with 10 passengers had arrived at Pinang Island (around 10:18 PM local time), while another speedboat with seven people on board had not yet arrived,” he said.

“We’ve deployed three ships… and they’re now heading to the search and rescue site.

“However, the problem is that the (missing vessel) is a simple wooden boat with no tracking devices or anything like that.”

Bad weather and poor visibility have hampered searchers’ ability to locate the missing Aussies.

The 12 Aussies are believed to have departed from Nias Island around 3pm on Sunday, a journey that could take up to 11 hours.

More to come.