The hotel in Essex.
A 23-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker reportedly tried to take his own life in the car park of a hotel in Essex upon learning of his impending transfer to the Bibby Stockholm barge, as per the UK Guardian’s report on October 29, 2023.
The Bibby Stockholm, an engineless barge, serves as an accommodation facility docked at the port of Portland, Dorset.
Between 1994 and 1998, it was utilized to house homeless individuals in Hamburg, Germany, and in 2005, the Netherlands employed it for detaining asylum seekers in Rotterdam.
In 2023, the UK government unveiled its intentions to repurpose the barge as a housing solution for asylum seekers.
As reported, the Nigerian national was airlifted to a hospital and placed on life support on Thursday, October 26, 2023, just two days after being informed about his impending relocation.
The charity Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Migrant Action (Rama) stated that the individual returned to his accommodation in a hotel utilized by the Home Office to house asylum seekers, around 6 pm.
Upon noticing that his hotel room number was listed on a whiteboard at the hotel reception for transfer to the barge on Tuesday, October 31, he went outside and attempted to take his own life. An asylum seeker who heard the distressed man discovered him, still alive but in a critical condition.
He was subsequently transported to Colchester General Hospital via air ambulance, where he presently remains in a severe state.
Earlier in August, asylum seekers placed on the barge had issued warnings regarding the challenging conditions onboard the Bibby Stockholm, which had previously driven one individual to a suicide attempt. This resulted in the evacuation of everyone on board due to the discovery of Legionella bacteria. Despite protests from local campaigners and Just Stop Oil, a small group of asylum seekers returned to the barge on October 19.
Having entered the UK as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking minor, the Nigerian man resided in foster care until he turned 18. Rama is providing assistance to him and other individuals staying at the hotel and other lodging facilities in Essex.
The Guardian has verified two additional recent fatalities among asylum seekers in hotels, both believed to be incidents of self-harm.