Ambulance called 38 times to 'prison-like' asylum site

Alarming rise in suicide attempts at Wethersfield centre

- HOLLY BANCROFT

Ambulances were called out to attend incidents at an asylum seeker centre in Essex 38 times in the first five months of this year, The Independent can reveal, after a scathing report found increasing numbers of men attempting suicide at the “prisonlike” former RAF base.

Charities working with asylum seekers at the Wethersfield site have been issuing urgent warnings about the conditions inside in recent months. Migrants living there have told The Independent that they have witnessed extreme acts of self-harm and frequent suicide attempts.

One refugee from Iraq estimated he had seen 10 people try to take their own lives in the past four months and said people were “going crazy” at the remote site. Around 580 migrants are housed at the former RAF base, where asylum seekers can be held for six to nine months. It opened last year.

Failures in vetting have seen vulnerable people sent to the site, with hundreds getting transferred out after the Home Office admitted the conditions were unsuitable.

Now new freedom of information data obtained by The Independent shows that an ambulance was called out to the base 38 times in the months of January to May this year. The highest number of callouts was 16 in January, followed by 11 in February, data from the East of England Ambulance Service showed.