Banksy-funded refugee rescue boat is 'overloaded and stranded at sea'

[editor]

Fucking fantastic move by the artist but now it's in trouble because of overcrowding and coastguards refusing to help

A rescue boat financed by the British street artist Banksy is close to declaring a “state of emergency” after the crew helped 130 migrants and are now safeguarding over 200 people off Libya’s coast, while the European authorities ignore their request for help.

The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean, where, on Thursday, it rescued 89 people including 14 women and four children.

Banksy-funded boat nears 'state of emergency' as it shelters 200 people

Crew of Louise Michel, who rescued 89 migrants on Thursday, say European authorities ignoring them

www.theguardian.com

Apols for Mail link but there's surprisingly decent coverage there

A Banksy-funded refugee rescue boat is stranded in the Mediterranean Sea with a dead migrant onboard after ship's deck became overcrowded.

Ship leaders are now pleading for help but claim that emergency calls to coast guard for assistance are being ignored.

There are more than 200 people on board the Louise Michel, including 10 crew members, with dozens of migrants suffering from fuels burns and dehydration after days at sea.

Banksy-funded refugee rescue boat´s calls for help `being ignored´

The captain of a Banksy-funded refugee rescue boat said it is stranded in the Mediterranean Sea and emergency calls for immediate help have been ignored.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[ska invita]

Can't they land in the UK?

 

[butchersapron]

Won't the EU let them land? Why are these rescued people even in the sea?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Can't they land in the UK?

They ship can't move 'due to her overcrowded deck and a life raft deployed at her side'.

 

[platinumsage]

Surely they planned for this? Or surely they didn’t. You can’t just be rich, paint a boat, and rescue people. Well you can obviously but it might not end well.

 

[editor]

Surely they planned for this? Or surely they didn’t. You can’t just be rich, paint a boat, and rescue people. Well you can obviously but it might not end well.

Perhaps they were hoping for some common fucking decency and countries obeying maritime laws.

 

[platinumsage]

Perhaps they were hoping for some common fucking decency and countries obeying maritime laws.

Well that would be a bit shit of them if they just went with hope and no plan. Because they’re currently stuck in the middle of the sea with lots of people who might otherwise have made it to Europe by now.

 

[butchersapron]

Well that would be a bit shit of them if they just went with hope and no plan. Because they’re currently stuck in the middle of the sea with lots of people who might otherwise have made it to Europe by now.

Made it to Europe? Have you any idea what this is about at all?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Surely they planned for this? Or surely they didn’t. You can’t just be rich, paint a boat, and rescue people. Well you can obviously but it might not end well.

They were already carrying 89 rescued migrants, when they responded to an emergency call, that was being ignored by the authorities, concerning a rubber dinghy in trouble that turned out to have another 130 onboard, and the Louise Michel can accommodate a maximum of only 120, so there's 99 too many, hence the problem.

 

[platinumsage]

Made it to Europe? Have you any idea what this is about at all?

One man‘s ego?

 

[butchersapron]

One man‘s ego?

Right, not drawing attention to the graveyard of the med and what bodies are responsible for it.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Well that would be a bit shit of them if they just went with hope and no plan. Because they’re currently stuck in the middle of the sea with lots of people who might otherwise have made it to Europe by now.

Have you not read the links?

They went to rescue people from a rubber dinghy in trouble, where the people onboard were trying to shuffle water out of the boat with their bare hands, they weren't going to make it to Europe.

 

[editor]

One man‘s ego?

 

[souljacker]

One man‘s ego?

Which man is that? You do realise banksy isn't on the boat yeah? He just paid for it.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Which man is that? You do realise banksy isn't on the boat yeah? He just paid for it.

Indeed, and it has a very experienced captain.

It is being captained by Pia Klemp, a human rights activist from Germany who has previously commanded rescue vessels in the Mediterranean and claims to have saved 1,000 migrants between 2011 and 2017.

 

[D'wards]

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is "fuels burns"?

 

[Thora]

Surely they planned for this? Or surely they didn’t. You can’t just be rich, paint a boat, and rescue people. Well you can obviously but it might not end well.

Totally right, they should have just left all those people to drown.

 

[Flavour]

just when you needed a reminder of what a bunch of cunts the EU are.

 

[Thora]

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is "fuels burns"?

Burns from engine fuel.

 

[tony.c]

Can't they land in the UK?

They are in the Mediterranean.

 

[editor]

just when you needed a reminder of what a bunch of cunts the EU are.

And how heartless some posters here can be: man gives away money to actually save lives of desperate refugees at sea, and gets dismissed as an egotist.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Some good news, Italian coastguards have now evacuated 49 people from the Louise Michel, but more help is still needed for both the Louise Michel & two other ships.

Migrant rescue: UN urges help as 200 taken off Banksy rescue boat

Almost 400 migrants rescued by three ships in the Mediterranean must be allowed to disembark, it says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[butchersapron]

Some good news, Italian coastguards have now evacuated 49 people from the Louise Michel, but more help is still needed for both the Louise Michel & two other ships.

Migrant rescue: UN urges help as 200 taken off Banksy rescue boat

Almost 400 migrants rescued by three ships in the Mediterranean must be allowed to disembark, it says.

www.bbc.co.uk

Yes, in case people don't know, there are loads of other ships doing this off their own back and have been for years. They are hated by the EU and their libyan etc paid pirates.

 

[D'wards]

Burns from engine fuel.

Jesus, people are covered in fuel. Hope no one sparks up a fag.
The whole thing sounds a fucking shambles

 

[Duncan2]

Jesus, people are covered in fuel. Hope no one sparks up a fag.
The whole thing sounds a fucking shambles

Yep and to his credit Banksy for one has refused to say "this is a fucking shambles that has nothing to do with me".

 

[Manter]

Well that would be a bit shit of them if they just went with hope and no plan. Because they’re currently stuck in the middle of the sea with lots of people who might otherwise have made it to Europe by now.

The people would have drowned. Like thousands of others.

 

[ska invita]

They ship can't move 'due to her overcrowded deck and a life raft deployed at her side'.

cheers, i was on the go and the report i read on this this morning didnt mention that

 

[Manter]

Jesus, people are covered in fuel. Hope no one sparks up a fag.
The whole thing sounds a fucking shambles

Not uncommon for rescued refugees to be covered in engine fuel. The less you pay the lower down in the dinghy you are packed and the more likely you are to get fuel burns, as well as crushing injuries. Small kids regularly suffocate

 

[Duncan2]

Not on topic I know but I wonder who produces these giant RIBs which seem inherently and extravagantly unsafe.Are they perhaps re-purposed lifeboats of some sort?

 

[Manter]

It’s also worth saying that refusing disembarkation to rescues refugees is a new-ish but common tactic in the Med (as is prosecuting rescuers). It’s in no way Banksy’s fault, the same thing has happened to MSF, Seawatch, Moas, a Maersk vessel who rescued some people last week, even on one occasion to a coastguard vessel: every rescue results in an angry negotiation to try and get people to safety. And every vessel with people already on board has to make a decision when they get an SOS- do they take on more people? Do they leave them to die? There are no easy answers.