Asylum-seeker’s death on U.K. barge has activists and residents calling for change

The death of a man on a barge housing asylum-seekers in the U.K. proves the accommodations are inhumane and untenable, say locals and advocates. 

Police confirmed this week they’re investigating the “sudden death of a resident” on Bibby Stockholm, an barge housing hundreds of men on the port of Portland, England.

“Something has to change,” Rocca Holly-Nambi, a Portland resident who has been facilitating classes for the asylum seekers, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

“This death has cemented to us that there’s such an urgent action needed to reclaim some kind of dignity and humanity and human rights for these guys.”

In a statement, Dorset Police said they received a report of a sudden death on Tuesday, but have not released any details about who died or how. 

“Officers are conducting inquiries into the circumstances of the incident,” the statement reads.

British Interior Minister James Cleverly was similarly tight-lipped when questioned in Parliament.

“At this stage I’m uncomfortable getting into any more details, but we will, of course, investigate fully,” he said.

Bacteria outbreak, fire exit concerns 

The decision to house asylum seekers on the barge — a three-storey floating accommodation anchored off the port of an island community in the British Channel — has been controversial since it was first announced in April. 

It’s part of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s strategy to crack down on asylum seekers travelling to the U.K. via the Channel, while saving money on housing those who have already arrived and are waiting to have their refugee claims heard. 

Refugee rights organizations have decried it as inhumane, and locals initially protested the sudden arrival of hundreds into their small community.

Built to house 222 people, the British government has insisted the barge has a capacity to hold 500. At the moment, about 300 men reside there, according to the Guardian newspaper.

A local firefighters’ union has called it a “potential deathtrap” due to possible overcrowding and a lack of fire exits. The British Home Office says it successfully completed health, fire, and safety checks before opening.

It was also briefly evacuated in August after legionella bacteria, which can cause serious illness or death, was discovered in its water supply.

‘Suicidal intentions’ and a lack of dignity

Holly-Nambi says she doesn’t know any details about the person who died, but says she’s heard from men who live on the vessel that it’s “incredibly restrictive” and “quite claustrophobic.”

“When you’ve come so far to escape violence and escape danger or peril or whatever it is, and then you arrive somewhere, and even then, you’re not given the dignity of [living on] land, that’s really painful and messy,” she said. 

Steve Smith, CEO of the refugee crisis charity Care4Calais, says that since people moved onto the barge, his organization has received several reports of “suicidal intentions amongst residents,” but the government has failed to take action. 

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

“It’s time our political leaders treated them as human beings, listened to the trauma they have experienced and offered them sanctuary.” 

Residents of the barge told the Guardian newspaper that a death onboard was inevitable.

“The longer they keep us here, the more I can see everyone’s mental health deteriorating,” one unnamed man said.

Holly-Nambi said the tragedy has brought the Portland community together in mourning, with people stopping by Bibby Stockholm to lay flowers and pay their respects.

“All sides of the community, from what I’m witnessing, are filled with compassion and sorrow for this loss of life,” she said.

They are allowed to leave the barge, but are dependant on bus schedules, must pass through security checks and are restricted on what they can bring in and out of the facility, including food. That makes it hard to be away for any extended period of time, Holly-Nambi said, because most can’t afford to eat out. 

Still, because they are integrating into the community, she says many residents who were initially opposed to having them in town have had a change of heart.

“When we first heard that the barge was going to arrive, there was widespread shock, anger, confusion and, I think, overall a sense that this community has been undermined by a complete lack of dialogue about this influx of visitors,” she said. 

“[Now] there are these glimmers and pockets of beauty and hope on the island where there’s been two-way integration, friendships have been made and new understandings are taking place.”

If residents had been included in the planning from the beginning, she says perhaps those earlier tensions — and this death — could have been prevented. 

“We could have created a really powerful community dialogue about what it means to host people, what it means to invite people and to share and to learn.”

With files from The Associated Press and Reuters. Interview with Rocca Holly-Nambi produced by Leslie Amminson