Breakout at Australia's PNG Detention Center
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A number of asylum-seekers have been injured and some arrested after escaping from an Australian immigration detention center on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.
Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday that 35 people escaped on Sunday evening, but that they were quickly rounded up by private security contractors at the facility, one of two remote Pacific camps used in Canberra's punitive off-shore detention policy.
"A full face-to-photo identification has been conducted and all transferees have been accounted for," Morrison said, AFP reported.
Eight detainees were arrested over the disturbance and Morrison said 19 were presented to the medical center for treatment, "none of whom were exhibiting life threatening conditions".
"As at this morning, five of those transferees remained at the clinic. A number of G4S (security contractor) staff also sustained minor injuries", he added.
Morrison said power poles and fences were toppled during the fracas and bunk beds were smashed to fashion makeshift weapons, but there was no destruction of accommodation.
Though security staff used "personal protection gear", Morrison said no weapons were used.
Any asylum seeker arriving by boat or intercepted at sea is transferred to Manus or Nauru for processing and resettlement outside Australia.
The breakout followed a tense meeting at the center between detainees and officials from Papua New Guinea's immigration and citizenship authority to discuss their fate if they were found to have a genuine refugee claim.
