MELBOURNE, Australia (AA) – A Bangladeshi refugee died Wednesday from suspected heart failure at an offshore Australian detention center for asylum seekers, according to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
The 26-year-old held on the Pacific island nation of Nauru reportedly visited a hospital complaining of chest pains Monday, only to pass away after a series of cardiac arrests, the Australian Associated Press cited the Department as saying.
The Refugee Action Coalition, however, criticized the official report for not mentioning that the refugee — identified as Rakib — had allegedly overdosed on tablets including a “large amount” of the painkiller Panadol.
“The Immigration statement has left many people on Nauru angry, because the statement is seen as just another cover-up by the Australian Border Force,” spokesman Ian Rintoul said in a press release.
The death comes after two other refugees set themselves on fire on Nauru.
Of them, the 23-year-old Iranian man succumbed to his wounds April 29, and a Somali woman — reportedly aged 19 or 21 — remains in a critical condition in a Brisbane hospital.
“Rakib’s friends say his suicide was driven by the same desperation as others on Nauru. There is no future,” Rintoul said Wednesday.
“There seems to be a serious question about whether doctors at Nauru hospital responded to pump his stomach, even though an overdose was suspected when he was first brought to the hospital,” he added.
Greens Immigration spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called for an independent and transparent investigation into the case.
“The investigation cannot be left to the Nauru Police or [Immigration Minister] Peter Dutton’s department, both of whom clearly cannot be trusted,” the Australian Associated Press quoted her as saying.
“There are questions to answer about the length of time it took for this man to get sufficient care and what exactly led to this deterioration in his condition,” she added.
Under its immigration policy, Australia detains asylum seekers who arrive by boat, in processing centers on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island and on Nauru, where conditions have been described as appalling by rights advocates.
