A rescue boat financed by the British street artist Banksy is stranded at sea after the crew helped 130 migrants, with requests for help from the European authorities being ignored, the ship leaders said. 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. It is nowsafeguarding more than 200 people off Libya’s coast. On Friday, the crew of European activists responded to a mayday call by Moonbird, an aircraft that monitors migrants’ boat in danger in the central Mediterranean, which had spotted a dinghy that was not moving and was taking in water.“Louise Michel proceeded at full speed,” a ship spokesperson said. “We handed out life vests to 130 people to secure the situation.”The rubber dinghy is located in the Maltese search and rescue zone, dangerously overcrowded and taking in water, with a dead body onboard and several others suffering from fuel burns and injuries, after having spent several days at sea. On Saturday, Banksy posted a short video on his personal Instagram account and accompanied by a comment: ‘“Like most people who make it in the art world, I bought a yacht, to cruise the Med.'“It’s a French navy vessel we converted into a lifeboat because EU authorities deliberately ignore distress calls from ‘non-Europeans’.”The video ends with the words All Black Lives Matter. The passengers had previously contacted the Alarm Phone, an emergency hotline assisting refugees at sea, and requested immediate rescue. Activists of Alarm Phone and Moonbird alerted European authorities to the boat in distress.

All data is taken from the source: https://www.theguardian.com/
Article Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/29/banksy-european-authorities-ignoring-pleas-crew-migrant-rescue-vessel


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