Asylum seeker dies on board UK accommodation barge: police

Charities on Tuesday criticised the UK government after an asylum seeker died onboard the controversial Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge docked on the southwest English coast.

Dorset Police said they had received a report of a “sudden death of a resident on the Bibby Stockholm,” while the Home Office said it was “aware of reporting of an incident”.

A coordinator of the Portland Global Friendship Group support service told Sky News that people on the barge had told her the person took his own life.

“It’s something we all talk about as a group: how do we support the guys to prevent a suicide? But we knew it was going to happen,” the charity worker said.

Interior minister James Cleverly earlier told parliament that he was “uncomfortable getting into any more details” but that “we will of course investigate fully”.

The first migrants to be housed at the site arrived in early August, but had to leave following the discovery of Legionella bacteria.

They returned in October to the barge, which can house 500 people, but rights advocates have criticised the policy, saying the vessel is unfit for the purpose.

Steve Smith, chief executive of Care4Calais, said Tuesday that the UK government “must take responsibility for this human tragedy”.

“They have wilfully ignored the trauma they are inflicting on people who are sent to the Bibby Stockholm,” he said.

“This can no longer continue. Asylum seekers are human beings, many of whom have experienced the worst traumas imaginable through war, torture and persecution.”

Britain is currently seeing record numbers of migrants arriving by boats from France on its southern coast.

Almost 30,000 people have arrived so far this year, with more than 110,000 migrants having made the sea crossing since Britain began publicly recording the arrivals in 2018.