Banksy’s refugee rescue boat stranded in Med
A boy waves from the deck of the Louise Michel rescue vessel, a 100ft French patrol boat funded by the artist Banksy and manned by activists. The boat became stranded in the Mediterranean Sea after an emergency was declared due to overcrowding with more than 200 migrants on board.
A REFUGEE rescue boat funded by the street artist Banksy became stranded in the Mediterranean Sea yesterday after an emergency was issued due to it being “overcrowded” with people.
The crew of the Louise Michel claimed its appeals for assistance were being ignored by the authorities, despite the vessel carrying more than 200 people rescued from small dinghies.
One of those on board had died, according to tweets posted from the vessel’s account.
But yesterday afternoon the Italian authority announced one of its coast guard patrols from the island of Lampedusa had reached the stricken boat and removed 49 of the most vulnerable refugees, including 32 women and 13 children.
The Italian coast guard said it acted in response to a request from the Maltese authorities. Weather conditions were deteriorating and the situation was becoming dangerous, the coast guard said.
The former French navy boat – named after the legendary anarchist Louise Michel and launched under its new guise last week with a Banksy painting of a young girl holding on to a heart-shaped safety float painted on its side – was spotted off the coast of Malta yesterday morning.
The boat, manned by a “non hierarchical” crew of 10, issued a series of tweets overnight and yesterday saying its situation was worsening, and appealing for help from authorities in Italy, Malta and Germany.
It said overcrowding meant it was in danger of capsizing if it moved under its own steam.
In response an Italian NGO rescue vessel, the Mare Jonio, was also preparing to leave the port of Augusta in Sicily.
In a statement Saving Humans Mediterranea said: “We decided to intervene because at the moment neither the Maltese nor the Italian authorities are providing the necessary assistance to over 150 people in imminent life danger.
“It will be a long journey and we hope that the military units of the Italian coast guard or the Maltese ones decide to intervene first.”
In a call for governments to act, the crew of the Louise Michel tweeted a photograph of some of the refugees it had rescued. It added: “There is already one dead person on the boat. We need immediate assistance.”
The group behind the 100ft long rescue boat, bought with proceeds from the sale of Banksy artwork, said it can
not safely move because of an overcrowded deck.
The Louise Michel has been operational since last week. On Thursday it rescued 89 people, including 14 women and four children, from a rubber boat in distress, the group said on its website.