Rioting in Australian detention centre after asylum seeker's death

(Vatican Radio)  Detainees at the Australian detention centre on Christmas Island are reportedly rioting over the death of an Iranian asylum seeker. Fences at the facility were torn down and fires were lit, forcing guards to abandon the facility and allowing access to vulnerable inmates by other detainees.

Listen to Arthur Stevens' report:

The Refugee Action Coalition based in Australia is claiming that fences and walls have been knocked down and fires have been started at some sections of the detention centre on Christmas Island about 500-kilometres south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

The canteen burnt down completely.  There are reports that detainees staged a two-hour riot.

Meanwhile, the body of an asylum seeker on the island was found on Sunday following his escape from the detention centre.

The man believed to be Iranian Kurdish asylum seeker Fazel Chegeni was reported missing on Friday. His body was discovered by the Australian Federal Police.