Tamil asylum seeker on bridging visa dies from burns to 90% of his body

Sri Lankan man understood to have self-harmed in frustration over lack of progress on protection visa

Michael Safi-Sunday 1 June 2014 

A Sri Lankan asylum seeker on a bridging visa has died from burns in an apparent self-harm incident.

The 29-year-old Tamil man arrived in Darwin by boat in January 2013 and has been on a bridging visa since May 2013, living in Geelong.

The man suffered burns to 90% of his body, apparently in a self-harm incident which occurred early on Saturday. He died on Sunday morning at Melbourne’s Alfred hospital.

The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, confirmed on Sunday that “an illegal maritime arrival of Sri Lankan nationality suffered serious burns in an incident … I understand he died of his injuries overnight.”

Trevor Grant, from the Tamil Refugee Council, said the man had fled persecution in Sri Lanka in the later stages of the country’s decades-long civil war, spending time in an Indian refugee camp before arriving in Australia.

Grant said the man was frustrated at the lack of progress on his protection visa.

“He was very, very depressed about his situation, not knowing what’s happening to him.

“He feared if he went back [to Sri Lanka] … he’d be going straight back to jail and probably torture,” Grant said.

Police are yet to formally identify the man or inform his family, none of whom are believed to be in Australia, Morrison said.

Another Tamil man died in similar circumstances in Sydney in April after receiving a letter from the department of immigration telling him his application for refugee status had failed.

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Tamil man recovering from self - immolation in Sydney 

Tuesday, 15 April 2014 

A Tamil asylum-seeker is recovering in a Sydney hospital from burns to 70 per cent of his body after setting himself alight last week.

A member of the Sydney Tamil community, Balasingham Prabhakaran, said today that 29-year-old Janarthanan began showing signs of recovery at the weekend when he came out of an induced coma.“He opened his eyes and looked around a bit. He can’t talk because of all the tubes in his mouth
but the signs are a lot better than they were. Nobody can be certain about his long-term health but it’s good news that he will survive,” he said.

Janarthanan, from Jaffna, (pictured above) is in the burns unit of the Concord Hospital, where he is expected to remain for at least three months. He has undergone several operations. His 65-year-old mother and brother are expected to arrive at his bedside later this week once visas are arranged by the Sri Lankan and Australian authorities.

Janarthanan, 29, received notice from the Immigration department last Tuesday that his application for a protection visa had been refused and he would have to return to Sri Lanka, where he insists he will face persecution, including jail and torture.

After he finished his shift as a cleaner in a building in Balmain last Wednesday, he poured petrol over himself and set himself alight. Several men working in a nearby shipyard ran to his aid and doused the flames. Paul Garrett, a member of the Maritime Union of Australia, was at the scene soon after it happened. “We are all in a state of shock. It was a hellish thing to witness. The men who helped him are devastated. It will be comfort to them to know he has survived,” he said.