An asylum seeker on Nauru has died aged 26 of a suspected heart failure after admitting himself to hospital on Monday night complaining of heart pains. The man, named Rakib, is the second refugee to die on Nauru in less than a month.
Refugee activists are alleging that the man’s heart failure was precipitated by a deliberate overdose of pills, including a large number of Panadol. These allegations were made in a news update by the Refugee Action Committee, who tweeted a link soon after the official announcement of the man’s death.
#Nauru claims another victim as Bangladeshi refugee suicides https://t.co/oQ7AKNeYr0
— RAC Sydney (@rac_sydney) May 11, 2016
It is also suggested that friends of the refugee were barred from seeing in hospital by security, even after waiting until 2am.
Friends of the dead #Nauru refugee say they waited at the hospital till 2am last night to see him. Security wouldn’t let them in.
— Michael Walsh (@mikehwalsh) May 11, 2016
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the man’s death comes after Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young‘s allegations that she has been barred from inspecting detention centres by the Government until after the election in July – which she learned after trying to stage a visit in the wake of the suicide of Omid Masoumali, who set himself alight on Nauru.
The Refugee Action Committee’s press release suggests that they want a full investigation into the death:
We are also concerned about whether there will be a proper investigation into his death. 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.
More on this story as it develops.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald / Refugee Action Committee.
Photo: Getty Images / Pacific Press.
