Two asylum seekers tried to hang themselves at the Manus Island detention centre but have reportedly survived.
Asylum seekers at Manus detention centre during protets. Photo: Supplied by Refugee Action Coalition
Video footage released overnight showed two men being stopped from hanging themselves by fellow detainees.
Hundreds of asylum seekers were continuing their protests at the Australian detention centre in Papua New Guinea, despite government statements to the contrary.
Asylum seekers said the attempted suicide happened in Mike compound, the ABC reported.
"Many people have decided to do suicide… our situation is critical," one asylum seeker said.
There were unconfirmed reports two men in Foxtrot compound swallowed nail cutters and another swallowed razor blades in separate acts of self-harm.
While aid groups and the media had no access to the centre, Radio New Zealand managed to contact one detainee, Ahmed, despite the phone line often being scrambled as he spoke.
Asylum seekers during a hunger strike in Foxtrot Compound at the Manus Island detention centre. Photo: AAP / Refugee Action Collective
He said he had been on Manus Island for one-and-a-half years.
Ahmed said the asylum seekers were still on hunger strike and the situation at the centre remained unchanged.
"Those people, they don't care about us, they don't have mercy, they don't care about what has happened, they just, they need to destroy us, they want to send us back to our country."
