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A 40-year-old migrant set himself on fire in Australia on Tuesday to protest his detention at an Australian detainee centre. He is currently in critical condition.
Media reports on Wednesday in Sydney said he wrapped himself in a sheet, doused it with lighter fluid and lit it on fire.
Security guards doused the flames and the man was flown by helicopter to a hospital with burns over most of his body.
The Immigration Department confirmed that there had been an incident involving a detainee at the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre, 100 kilometres north of Perth in Western Australia.
The department said the migrant and two detention service providers who rendered assistance are receiving appropriate medical care.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said it was not the first time the man had attempted self-harm.
“It’s absolutely extraordinary that anyone could find the materials that are necessary to set fire to themselves,” he said.
“But what makes it even more disturbing is that this is not the first time that this detainee had attempted self-harm, and given the circumstances of the last incident I would have thought he would have been under very intensive observation.
“There needs to be a proper and thorough investigation into how this could have happened.”