The Australian government took 24 hours to medically evacuate a gravely ill Iranian refugee who set himself alight on Wednesday, despite Immigration Minister Peter Dutton earlier warning the man's outlook was "not good at all".
Nauru's government on Thursday tweeted that the 23-year-old was airlifted "at midday today", or 10am Australian eastern standard time - about a day after he doused himself with petrol and set himself alight over his despair at life on the Pacific Island.
There were reports he suffered burns to up to 80 per cent of his body. Video footage of the incident and its aftermath shows the man was terribly injured and suffering severe pain.
On Wednesday Mr Dutton said the married man, whose name is believed to be Omid, was "in a very serious condition and the plan is to provide an airlift for him later tonight ... his outlook is not good at all."
Speaking to Fairfax Media a few hours after the incident, Omid's friend Arman said the victim's situation was "really, really urgent", and questioned why he had not already been airlifted. It is understood the delay in medical evacuation also caused Omid's wife considerable distress.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection refused to comment on the delay, or confirm where the victim would be treated in Australia. It is understood the man will be treated at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.
It also refused to comment on the man's condition, or respond to reports from refugee advocates that doctors did not attend Nauru hospital for several hours to treat the victim, who was instead initially seen to by nurses.
Mr Dutton has previously said hospital facilities at Nauru were better than those in some parts of regional Australia, and on Wednesday he spoke of "millions of dollars of enhancements to medical support services" on the island.
The delay comes days after ABC's Four Corners program reported that the urgent medical evacuation from Manus Island of a seriously ill asylum seeker, Hamid Khazaei, was delayed by almost 30 hours in 2014, partly because a public servant had gone home for the day and did not check his emails until the next morning.
A cut on that victim's leg progressed to septicaemia, and he later died in a Brisbane hospital. The ABC also reported it took almost five hours for the department to respond to the initial evacuation request in that case.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said authorities "couldn't be bothered" ensuring the Nauru burns victim received proper, immediate treatment, adding that Nauru "didn't have the facilities, the experience or the personnel. It would have been a horrible day and night [for the man]."
Mr Dutton on Wednesday said once medical assistance had been provided to asylum seekers or refugees from Nauru, they would be returned to the island.
The victim set himself alight on Wednesday morning after a visit from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, to see conditions faced by refugees and asylum seekers.
