‘Some refugees are very sick’: Australian immigration camp on Papua New Guinea loses power

The 606 men refusing to leave an Australian immigration camp in Papua New Guinea were without power and many of their toilets on Wednesday as reports emerged saying one of them had resorted to harming himself while others needed urgent medical treatment.

The camp inside a Manus Island navy base was declared closed on Tuesday afternoon based on the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court’s ruling last year that Australia’s policy of detaining asylum seekers there was illegal and unconstitutional. But the men who have stayed at the camp on Lombrun Navy Base fear for their safety in the alternative shelters available in the nearby town of Lorengau because of threats from locals.

The Sydney-based Refugee Action Coalition said the removal of electricity generators Wednesday morning left the camp without power, including toilets that operate on electrical pumps. They still have tap water, though the coalition says it isn’t drinkable.

As the asylum seekers faced a second nervous night at the now-unguarded facility amid ongoing fears of violence from locals, an Iranian man living there, Behrouz Boochani, tweeted: “A refugee has harmed himself with a razor. He cut his wrist and chest. Physically he’s good now but mentally is out of control.”

In another tweet, Boochani said: “Some refugees are very sick. They need urgent medical treatment. They have been physically sick for a long time. There is no support for them.” He added later that “a Rohingya refugee with epilepsy is sick now.”