Arabic version: العائلة تتساءل عن ظروف وفاة رجل من بيرث أثناء احتجازه في بالي
The family of Perth man Cameron Hughes says it has many unanswered questions after he died in an immigration detention centre in Bali while awaiting deportation for an alleged breach of visa conditions.
According to ABC News, officials from Bali immigration said Mr Hughes was taken to immigration detention on Friday, local time, and was found unresponsive hours later. A spokesperson for Bali immigration’s Ngurah Rai office said officers noticed an anomaly on CCTV when the detainee remained motionless in a restroom; staff checked vital signs, administered first aid including supplemental oxygen, coordinated with the nearest hospital to dispatch an ambulance and transferred him to the Bali Jimbaran General Hospital. Officials said he was declared dead on the way to the hospital and that a preliminary medical assessment indicated he died from cardiac arrest.
Mr Hughes, 39, had lived in Bali for more than 15 years, ran a car restoration business in Jimbaran in South Kuta, had recently separated from his Indonesian wife and had an eight-year-old son. His family said he had been navigating Indonesia’s immigration system to extend his visa to be able to stay close to his son. “Cameron was a beautiful person who loved his family deeply and was a devoted father,” the family said. “Taken too soon doesn’t even come close. We are completely broken as a family.”
The family said it has received conflicting information about the circumstances surrounding his death and is seeking details about how he came to be detained and what happened while he was being held. “We will be working closely with consular staff to understand what actually happened, and work with them to understand the full extent of the situation,” the family said. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the Hughes family. “We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time,” a department spokesperson said. “Owing to our privacy obligations, we are unable to provide further comment.”
Family members said they had been in regular contact with Bali immigration authorities to clarify Mr Hughes’s status and denied suggestions that he had failed to cooperate with officials. Consular assistance from DFAT will continue as inquiries proceed and the family seeks further information about the circumstances of his detention and death.
Related sections: Australia/استراليا | Western Australia | General | Social/إجتماعية
