Manus Island: Immigration Minister Scott Morrison confirms one asylum seeker dead, 77 injured during second night of unrest

Updated

One asylum seeker is dead, another is in a critical condition and 13 are being treated for serious injuries after a second night of violence at the Manus Island detention centre.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said it was his "great regret" to report the extent of the injuries sustained by asylum seekers in the riot.

He has promised a full inquiry into the incident from which 77 asylum seekers were treated, 40 had been discharged and 22 suffered minor injuries.

"There were 13 serious injuries, there was one critical injury, and there is one person who is deceased," Mr Morrison said.

"The deceased person involved a head injury and that person passed away on transfer to the hospital."

Mr Morrison said the person was injured outside the centre.

The asylum seeker who is listed as critically injured received a skull fracture and one seriously injured asylum seeker was shot in the buttock.

Both are being transferred to Australia for treatment.

The Minister said the majority of asylum seekers were not involved in the riot and were evacuated to a nearby oval for their safety. Non-essential staff were also moved out of the centre.

He said it was possible some asylum seekers were still missing.

"We're still not in a position to have accounted for every transferee which is in that centre and I hope to provide further information on that today," he said.

The Minister described the situation, which he says was brought under control at 3am (local time), as "very tense and very stressful".

"The news of a death is a great tragedy and our sympathies are extended to the transferee's - that person's family and friends who would have been in the facility as well," he said.

"This is a tragedy, but this was a very dangerous situation where people decided to protest in a very violent way and to take themselves outside the centre and place themselves at great risk."

Mr Morrison said the incident was the latest in a series of "largely peaceful" protests stretching back for weeks.

"This is a very distressing situation but it is not a situation, sadly, that was not anticipated," he said.

"The Government has been taking steps over recent weeks to increase our security presence at that centre."

He said the Government had learnt lessons from previous attempts to "take down" centres on Nauru and emphasised that the Manus Island centre "has not been destroyed".

"The centre will be able to resume operations, as it has this morning - breakfast has been served," he said.

The latest incident follows one on Sunday night, when 35 asylum seekers escaped from the detention centre but were quickly recaptured.

The ABC has obtained video footage of that incident, shot from the perimeter of the compound.

It shows detainees shouting and throwing stones at guards and houses nearby.

The detainees are also seen rushing towards the main gate.

Mr Morrison says that breakout was the result of "much-heightened" tensions at the facility.

The Minister is in Darwin, where he planned to inspect patrol boats, but says he is returning to Canberra as soon as possible to be briefed.

Interactive: Australia’s offshore immigration centres Find out more about Australia’s operations on Christmas Island, Manus Island and Nauru.

Refugee advocate claims 'savage attacks' on asylum seekers

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul says the latest incident began with locals breaking into the centre.

"The perimeter fences were breached by locals, the centre had already been evacuated, and PNG police and locals carried out systematic attacks, savage attacks on the asylum seekers last night," he told ABC News Breakfast.

"If there are asylum seekers outside the perimeter fence it's because they've fled for their lives late last night from those attacks."

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Refugee advocate Ian Rintoul speaks with ABC News Breakfast (ABC News)

He says up to 50 people have been injured inside the compound.

"Bashings, cuts from machetes, with sticks, gunshots were heard overnight," he said.

"I don't know of anyone being shot, but people - one person we were told - was actually thrown off the first floor of one of the buildings."

The ABC has been unable to verify Mr Rintoul's claims.

Mr Morrison said the claims were "not correct" on the information he had been given.

A man who said he was an asylum seeker at the Manus Island centre phoned the ABC last night saying shots were fired and most of the detainees had fled.

He refused to give his name and the ABC has been unable to confirm his statement.

Opposition wants inquiry as Wilkie slams 'hell hole'

The Opposition has demanded a full inquiry into the incident and wants to know what steps the Government will take to stop the violence.

"The facility is utterly critical to Australia's asylum seeker policy approach," Labor's immigration spokesman Richard Marles said.

"It is the cornerstone of the strategy that our country has in place to see boats stop coming from Indonesia."

The previous Labor government reopened the centre in November 2012 after closing it down shortly after coming to power in 2007.

PNG correspondent Liam Cochrane has told The World Today some asylum seekers could have fled:



I've got no official information on whether all detainees have been located or not.



Security guards were going to try to match up faces to photos this morning and account for everybody, but perhaps I can just describe the location of the centre.



On one side is a beach and water and on the other side is some thick jungle and all around there are some residential properties.



So it is possible that people could have fled, could have perhaps fled into the jungle and could still be hiding out.



But the centre is located within a navy base and it would be a very difficult place to hide out for very long.



Listen to the interview here. I've got no official information on whether all detainees have been located or not.Security guards were going to try to match up faces to photos this morning and account for everybody, but perhaps I can just describe the location of the centre.On one side is a beach and water and on the other side is some thick jungle and all around there are some residential properties.So it is possible that people could have fled, could have perhaps fled into the jungle and could still be hiding out.But the centre is located within a navy base and it would be a very difficult place to hide out for very long.

It was first set up by the Howard government in 2001.

Greens spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young says the detention centre should be shut down.

"The centre must be closed, and it must be closed now," she said. "This gulag on Manus Island is untenable."

The violence has prompted independent MP Andrew Wilkie to renew his call for the Government to stop processing asylum seekers offshore.

"We should not have offshore processing. We should not have a hell hole like Manus Island clearly is," he said.

"We should not have mandatory detention. We should act like a rich and fortunate country and a signatory to the Refugee Convention."

But Mr Morrison says the Government's determination to stick to its policies is "absolute".

"The Government's resolve when it comes to our policies is very clear and that resolve won't break," he said.

Topics: immigration, law-crime-and-justice, unrest-conflict-and-war, papua-new-guinea, australia

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