Over 500 asylum seekers remain at decommissioned PNG camp

8 Nov, 2017 11:10 / Updated 7 years ago

More than 500 asylum seekers remained at a decommissioned Australian immigration camp in Papua New Guinea on Wednesday. A court ruled earlier that authorities no longer need to supply power, food and water to the camp, which is located inside a Manus Island Navy base. Papua New Guinea Police Chief Superintendent Dominic Kakas said 38 asylum seekers had left the camp since the Supreme Court rejected an application to restore basic services on human-rights grounds on Tuesday. This meant that 54 of the 606 asylum seekers at the camp had left since it officially closed in October, AP reports. “We’re hoping in the next couple of days or so” the remainder will leave, Kakas said.