LONDON (AP) — An asylum-seeker on board a barge housing migrants off the south coast of England has died and a police investigation has been launched, British officials said Tuesday.
A Dorset Police spokesperson said officers received “a report of a sudden death of a resident” on the barge, called the Bibby Stockholm, early Tuesday.
“Officers are conducting inquiries into the circumstances of the incident,” the force said.
Home Secretary James Cleverly told lawmakers the death will be investigated fully. He didn’t provide details.
The Bibby Stockholm has been at the center of controversy since authorities first deployed the vessel, along with disused military barracks, as a solution to housing migrants awaiting the outcome of their asylum applications.
Earlier this year the ship had to be evacuated following the discovery of legionella bacteria, which can cause serious illness, in its water supply. About 40 men returned in October to the vessel, which is moored in Portland harbor in Dorset.
The barge, which has capacity to house some 500 people, is part of the British government’s plans to tackle huge costs in housing thousands of asylum-seekers and to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel on unseaworthy small boats to seek a new life in the U.K.
Officials have said alternative accommodation like the Bibby Stockholm brings “better value to taxpayers” than housing them in hotels across the country, which costs millions of pounds a day.
But migrants’ rights groups have criticized conditions onboard the barge, saying it was prison-like, isolating and punishing for migrants who may have fled torture or persecution.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman previously insisted the barge was safe amid repeated protests and threats of legal action from the firefighters’ union over fire safety concerns.
The Refugee Council called Tuesday for an independent review into the death of the asylum-seeker.
“This is an appalling loss of life but tragically not surprising,” said Enver Solomon, the group’s chief executive. “Nobody who comes to our country seeking asylum should be left without the support they need yet the system has more hostility than compassion built into it.”
The Home Office described the death as a “tragic incident” and said it takes its responsibilities toward migrants seriously.
“The welfare of all those in our care is of the utmost importance,” it said in a statement.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to “stop the boats” bringing unauthorized migrants from northern France, and has brought in much tougher laws to curb migrants’ ability to seek asylum in the U.K.
But his government is struggling to unite lawmakers behind his flagship immigration bill, which seeks to revive a plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda that was ruled illegal by the U.K. Supreme Court.
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