An asylum seeker has died onboard the Bibby Stockholm, the controversial barge used by the government to house migrants.
The person was found dead on the boat in Portland port, Dorset, on Tuesday morning.
A few hundred asylum seekers have been living on the three-storey barge since October after it was finally given the all clear, two months after it was evacuated following the discovery of Legionella bacteria in the water supply.
A spokesperson for Dorset Police said that they received a report of “a sudden death of a resident on the Bibby Stockholm” at 6:22am on Tuesday morning.
They continued: “Officers are conducting enquiries into the circumstances of the incident. The coroner’s office has been notified of the death.”
Further details of the incident are yet to be confirmed and the person’s age and country of origin are not yet known.
Asylum seekers living on the barge have previously said that they are in “various forms of serious mental distress”. One migrant described the conditions as like “being in prison”.
The Home Office have said that around 500 asylum seekers would be able to live on the barge at maximum capacity, though a fire prevention report released under FOI suggested that 425 was the maximum.
News of the death comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak separately prepares for a key vote on his flagship Rwanda bill later.
The scheme would see those who arrive in the UK illegally sent to the east African country, where they could claim asylum.
