Female refugee dead in Port Moresby lodge

The shocking death of a female asylum seeker in her room at a Port Moresby lodge yesterday is now the subject of a police investigation.

The asylum seeker from Nigeria was said to be in Port Moresby for the last 7 years.

A refugee at the lodge she was at told NBC News, she was dead in her room for several days, and they only found out yesterday.

He's says “everyone here feels sad because she doesn't have any family, no one to stand up with us and also she is the only lady.”

Chief Migration Officer Wellington Navasivu told NBC News, the deceased asylum seeker was reported dead to the Immigration at about 3pm on Monday afternoon.

Mr. Navasivu says she previously stayed at another lodge; however, she moved to a new one on July 1st, on her own accord.

He clarified, the lodge where she moved to, together with asylum seekers and refugees took out a court order preventing Immigration from moving them to an “independent accommodation where they would be assisted.”

The pending case before the courts prevented Immigration from attending to her at the lodge.

NBC News is seeking comments from police.

Statistics from Asylum Insight indicate that under the regional resettlement arrangement between PNG and Australia, at the end of 2024, approximately 64 asylum seekers and refugees remained in PNG, while approximately 472 people have been resettled to other countries, like the United States, Canada, and New Zealand.

Around 2021, PNG assumed full responsibility of those remaining with funding support from Australia for refugee welfare including accommodation and medical among others.