What was claimed
An asylum seeker who died aboard the Bibby Stockholm barge on 12 December was a doctor from Cameroon called Mickael Essouma.
Our verdict
This is incorrect. The man who died has been named as Leonard Farruku, an Albanian national.
Asylum seeker who died aboard Bibby Stockholm misidentified as doctor from Cameroon
22 December 2023
Posts on Facebook have misidentified an asylum seeker who died aboard the Bibby Stockholm barge as a doctor from Cameroon.
Multiple posts on the site, as well as on X (formerly Twitter) claim the person was Mickael Essouma, a Cameroonian doctor.
However, Dr Essouma was not the asylum seeker who died on board the barge on 12 December.
The man has now been widely named by British media outlets as an Albanian national called Leonard Farruku.
An inquest was due to be opened into the death of Mr Farruku, 27, on Thursday, 21 December at Dorset Coroner's Court in Bournemouth. The listing for the opening records Portland as his place of death.
The Bibby Stockholm barge which is moored off Portland in Dorset has been used since August to house men awaiting asylum decisions.
A Home Office spokesperson told Full Fact the death of Mr Farruku would be investigated by the coroner and Dorset Police.
“This was a tragic incident, and our thoughts are with everyone affected,” they added.
“The welfare of all those in our care is of the utmost importance, and we take our responsibility for their wellbeing incredibly seriously. It is right that the facts and circumstances surrounding this death are established.”
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Who is the man wrongly claimed to have died?
According to The National, Dr Essouma was wrongly named on social media after news broke on 12 December of the death of an asylum seeker on board the Bibby Stockholm. The article reports a claim that Dr Essouma is still alive.
Full Fact has contacted the High Commission of Cameroon to confirm whether Dr Essouma is currently being held aboard the Bibby Stockholm.
Image courtesy of Andrew Bone
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the asylum seeker who died aboard the Bibby Stockholm was Leonard Farruku, not Mickael Essouma.