Ministers are being urged to close the Bibby Stockholm barge after an asylum seeker being housed on the vessel is believed to have killed himself.
Police are investigating the “sudden death” on the huge vessel in Portland, Dorset, which was leased by the former home secretary Suella Braverman to house recent arrivals to the UK.
The man, said to have been in his 20s, is understood to have been found early on Tuesday morning by his room-mate.
Charities called on Tuesday night for the government to close the barge amid concerns that it is cramped, unsafe and isolated accommodation for people, many of whom have suffered trauma.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, called for an independent review of the incident. “We know from our work supporting men, women and children in the asylum system that many are deeply traumatised and feel isolated and unable to get the help they need. Some are so desperate they self-harm and feel suicidal.
“It is imperative that an independent review is carried out into this death so that lessons are learned,” he said.
Ann Salter, speaking for the human rights charity Freedom from Torture, said: “This latest tragedy is yet another reminder that the government’s punitive anti-refugee policies are not only cruel, but they cost lives.”
The Fire Brigades Union general secretary, Matt Wrack, said the vessel should be closed with immediate effect.
“While the circumstances surrounding the death are not yet known, there are still very real safety concerns about forcibly keeping people onboard a floating prison.
“Ministers must end this barbaric practice immediately,” he said.
There are understood to be about 300 male asylum seekers on the barge, which the Home Office claims has capacity for 500. Up to four people are expected to share each cabin.
A source said there were increasing tensions on the vessel as more asylum seekers were moved onboard. Officials are examining a specific incident involving people from the barge in Weymouth on Saturday night that may be related to the death.
One resident told the Guardian that there were tensions between staff and asylum seekers.
“It takes a long time to get in and out and we have to be checked and scanned everywhere we go. But we are not criminals, we are here looking for safety.
“Some staff are rude to us. The man who died was very unhappy,” he said.
A Dorset police spokesperson said: “At 6.22am on Tuesday 12 December 2023, Dorset police received a report of a sudden death of a resident on the Bibby Stockholm. Officers are conducting inquiries into the circumstances of the incident. The coroner’s office has been notified of the death.”
The death would be investigated fully, the home secretary, James Cleverly, told MPs. “The house will understand that at this stage I am uncomfortable getting into any more details,” he told the Commons.
Another asylum seeker on the barge told the Guardian that the death was “predictable” because of the poor conditions on the barge.
“This death has not come as a surprise to any of us. People taking their lives is a predictable result of the Home Office’s policy of putting people on the barge.
“The longer they keep us here, the more I can see everyone’s mental health deteriorating,” he said.
Some barge residents had held a hunger strike in protest at poor food and conditions, the man said.
“I have a simple message for the Home Office: how many people need to die before you realise the mistakes you have made with the way you treat asylum seekers?” he said.
The Bibby Stockholm became part of the Home Office’s estate in the summer as a means of cutting the hotel costs for housing asylum seekers.
The barge has been blighted by problems since it was docked in Portland in early July, including a series of health and safety issues. The Fire Brigades Union said it was a “potential deathtrap” because of possible overcrowding and a lack of suitable fire exits.
Asylum seekers were taken onboard in early August but taken off days later when it emerged that legionella bacteria had been found in the water supply.
The three-storey vessel houses people awaiting the outcome of their asylum applications.
The Home Office provided extra funding to NHS Dorset for a one-room medical centre on the barge, which officials said would be staffed five days a week.
A nurse practitioner or a paramedic was due to be onboard four or five days a week and a GP one day a week, with translation services available, NHS Dorset said when asylum seekers returned to the barge in October.
Carralyn Parkes, the mayor of Portland, said: “It is inexpressibly sad that anyone should come to end their days on the Bibby Stockholm, whatever the cause of death.”
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