15 Asylum Seekers Attempt Suicide

Fed up after waiting years to have their refugee claims processed, more than a dozen asylum seekers at an Australian detention camp tried to hang themselves, an activist said today.

Cyrus Sarang, president of the Refugee Action Collective, said detainees at the Woomera camp in southern Australia told him that 15 illegal immigrants tried to use sheets to hang themselves.

Immigration officials said four detainees, including a child, were given medical treatment overnight at Woomera, which has been thrown into turmoil by nine days of hunger strikes and symbolic lip-sewing.