A 39-year-old Australian man from Sydney has died while in immigration detention in Bali, just as he was set to be deported back to Australia for overstaying his visa.
Incident details
Indonesia’s Ngurah Rai Immigration Office said in a statement on Saturday that the man passed away on Friday night while in detention. He had been investigated for overstaying his residence permit by more than three months.
“The person concerned had received emergency medical treatment before finally being declared dead on the way to the hospital,” the statement said.
Sequence of events
The man was taken into immigration custody on Friday in Jimbaran, south of Bali’s capital Denpasar, to await the deportation process. Immigration officers were monitoring CCTV cameras in the detention facility when they noticed “an abnormality in the detainee’s position that did not show movement for a long time in the toilet.”
“Officers immediately went to the location and found the detainee in an unconscious condition,” they said. “Officers immediately checked vital signs, provided first aid including oxygen assistance, and coordinated with the nearest hospital for ambulance delivery.”
Medical response and cause of death
The medical team who arrived at the location carried out initial treatment before taking the man to Bali General Hospital Jimbaran for more intensive treatment. On the way to the hospital, he was declared dead. “The results of the initial examination by the hospital also noted a suspected heart attack as a factor at the time of the incident,” the statement added.
Official reactions and investigation
Local police are investigating the death. Head of the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office Bugie Kurniawan expressed his condolences to the man’s family, vowing to continue working with police and the Australian government. “Despite being given repeated opportunities to complete his immigration process cooperatively, the person concerned repeatedly did not comply with official invitations from officers,” the statement said.
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