23-Year-Old Nigerian Asylum Seeker Attempts Suicide In UK

The UK Guardian reported on Sunday, October 29, 2023, that a 23-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker attempted suicide in an Essex hotel parking lot after learning that he would be transferred to the Bibby Stockhom barge.

Bibby Stockhom is an engineless barge that serves as a hotel and is docked in Portland, Dorset.

It was used for the homeless in Hamburg, Germany, between 1994 and 1998. In addition, the Netherlands used it to detain asylum seekers in Rotterdam in 2005.

The UK government revealed plans to use the barge as asylum seeker housing in 2023.

According to the report, the Nigerian national was airlifted to a hospital and placed on life support on Thursday, October 26, 2023, two days after being informed that he would be transferred.

According to the charity Refugee, Asylum Seeker, and Migrant Action (Rama), the 23-year-old man returned to his hotel, which the Home Office uses to house asylum seekers, around 6 p.m.

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He noticed his hotel room number was written on a whiteboard in the hotel reception area as one of the numbers scheduled to transfer to the barge on Tuesday, October 31.

When he discovered he was on the list, he went outside and attempted suicide. An asylum seeker who heard the man in distress discovered him alive but in poor health.

The 23-year-old was airlifted to Colchester General Hospital, where he is still in critical condition.

Asylum seekers who were placed on the barge in August warned that conditions onboard the Bibby Stockholm had led to one suicide attempt before everyone was evacuated due to the discovery of Legionella bacteria. On October 19, a small group of asylum seekers returned to the barge, despite protests from local activists and Just Stop Oil.

The 23-year-old Nigerian man arrived in the UK as an unaccompanied asylum seeker child and spent his childhood in foster care until the age of 18. Rama is assisting the man and others in the hotel and at other Essex lodging facilities.

The Guardian has confirmed two other recent deaths in hotels of asylum seekers, both of which are believed to be suicides.

According to Rama, eight asylum seekers are expected to board the barge on Tuesday.

Maria Wilby, the operational lead at Rama, said: “There are 114 asylum seekers at the hotel an9d a very high number of them have wounds from self-harm. Ten of them have been on hunger strike because the food is so poor. People are losing significant amounts of weight,”

“There have also been six occasions in the past year, since the hotel was stood up in November 2022, when our staff, volunteers and colleagues have had to talk people down from the flyover on the A12, from where they planned to jump and take their own lives. The last time was just two weeks ago.”

The incident has reportedly caused great distress among the asylum seekers, staff, and security guards.

The hotel is set to close soon as part of Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick’s plan, announced in the House of Commons on October 24, to close an initial 50 hotels by the end of January.

Wilby added: “The asylum seekers are grieving the fact that the Home Office is closing the hotel down. While it may not be perfect, it’s been their home for up to a year. This suicide attempt is the strongest possible protest against that inhumanity, and also shows just how much the Bibby Stockholm is feared.”

Nicola David, of One Life To Live, which campaigns against inappropriate accommodation for asylum seekers and has raised multiple concerns about the Bibby Stockholm, said: “This is a horrific incident – a tragedy which was entirely preventable.

“Is there any part of the ‘stop the boats’ drive that’s working? Perhaps only the fact that the Bibby Stockholm is, indeed, proving to be a deterrent.

“But instead of preventing people from making the Channel crossing, asylum seekers already here are choosing to kill themselves rather than be sent to the barge. It’s certainly a deterrent – a deeply, deeply cruel and shameful one.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The health and welfare of asylum seekers remains the utmost priority. We work continually to ensure the needs and vulnerabilities of those residing in asylum accommodation are identified and considered, including those related to mental health and trauma.

“Residents are provided with ample support to understand any changes in accommodation, including access to staff and mental health support.”