LONDON (Reuters) -An asylum seeker has died on board a barge housing migrants off the south coast of England, the refugee charity Care4Calais said on Tuesday.
The death is reported to have taken place on the Bibby Stockholm, a barge which is moored in Portland, Dorset, and which can house around 500 people.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made cracking down on illegal migration one of his key priorities, and as part of that the government is trying to cut the cost of accommodating asylum seekers in hotels by using barges and former military sites.
But the policy has been controversial. Human rights campaigners compared the barge to a prison ship and said its use was in inhumane.
Care4Calais said in a statement that the government must take responsibility for “this human tragedy”.
“Our thoughts are with the person who has lost their life, their family and their friends,” it said on Tuesday. “They (the asylum seekers on the barge) are being separated from the rest of society and we have witnessed a serious deterioration of people’s mental health.”
Britain’s interior ministry said it was aware of reports about an incident involving someone on the barge.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time,” a home office spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Kylie MacLellan and Michael Holden)
