Meanwhile, In The Mediterranean

at

Yesterday.

Oscar Camps, of Spanish lifeguard group Proactiva Open Arms, tweeted:

The Libyan coast guard announced that it had intercepted a boat with 158 people on board and had provided medical and humanitarian assistance. What they did not say was that they left two women and a child on board and sank the ship because they did not want to get on Libyan patrol boats.

When we arrived, we found one of the women still alive, we could not do anything to recover the other woman and the child who apparently died a few hours before finding them. How long will we have to deal with assassins enlisted by the Italian government to kill?

Libyan coastguard accused of abandoning three migrants in sea (The Guardian)

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81 thoughts on “Meanwhile, In The Mediterranean

  1. mildred st. meadowlark

    You may want to put a warning on this story, lads. It’s rather distressing, as is the pic even if it has been blurred.

    1. Dr.Fart MD

      i agree, there should be a ‘click to see image’ and a warning, some people might not be able to cope with seeing an actual dead person.

    2. Sheik Yahbouti

      Mildred, bless your tender heart (NOT being sarcastic). Perhaps, though, we need these harsh realities to be shoved in our faces.

    3. realPolithicks

      I’m with Sheik on this one Mildred, I think this kind of image needs to be shown again and again so that perhaps we (myself included) can finally wake up to what is happening in the Mediterranean right now.

  2. MaryLou's ArmaLite

    This needs to be stopped, people are being smuggled and abused, aided and abetted by European open border groups, telling them they are welcome in Europe.

    Send the boats back.

      1. Sentient Won

        The Czech, Hungarians, Poles, Italians and Austrians are all with MaryLou.

        The Halcyon days of the NGO Migration Gravy Train are coming to and end,

          1. Sentient Won

            Czech Republic
            http://www.praguemonitor.com/2018/07/16/prague-not-accept-migrants-italy-offers-police-experts

            Hungary
            https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/20/hungary-passes-anti-immigrant-stop-soros-laws

            Poland
            https://www.politico.eu/article/politics-nationalism-and-religion-explain-why-poland-doesnt-want-refugees/

            Italy
            https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/04/pack-your-bags-italys-new-leaders-tell-500000-illegal-migrants–but-itll-cost-them.html

            Austria
            https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-austria/austria-plans-to-put-immigration-and-borders-at-heart-of-eu-presidency-idUSKCN1GL1KN

          2. ReproButina

            “All” you said but the evidence suggests the countries you named are divided. For example:

            Italy – “Several hundred young protesters clashed with Italian anti-riot police on Saturday near the Austrian-Italian border during a demonstration against Vienna’s proposed anti-migrant measures.”
            http://www.qatar-tribune.com/news-details/id/501/d/20160508

            Czech Republic – “Demonstrations for and against immigration took place on Saturday afternoon at Prague’s Wenceslas Square”
            http://www.radio.cz/en/section/news/pro-and-anti-immigration-groups-demonstrate-in-wenceslas-square

            Austria- “About 20,000 people took to the streets of Vienna on Monday to demonstrate against ill-treatment of refugees”
            https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/01/vienna-stages-protest-welcoming-refugees

            So not “all” after all.

          3. Sentient Won

            Paid Sorosian protesters don’t count because nobody pays any attention to them anymore.

            But you know that.

          4. Sheik Yahbouti

            Ah fer Chrissake, remarkably UN sentient won. Get a grip on reality before it’s too late.

  3. postmanpat

    Un-pixelate the picture ffs. If it was a while adult the whole picture would be blurred. A dead brown adult us crackers can handle but a dead child or a white adult we cant handle . or can we? Its not like we get a choice. so much for the free internet.

  4. Shayna

    I don’t know if anyone watched the “Dispatches” on Channel 4 with Martin Bashir – inside Facebook? An undercover reporter worked in Dublin, the HQ World-wide of Facebook moderation, as a trainee moderator – according to Facebook directives to the moderators – scenes of death do not necessarily have to be deleted, instead a “Disturbing” warning instead is flagged. “It’s all about the money”, a Dublin trainer said, the more traffic to the disturbing, the more revenue. No, I’m not on Facebook.

  5. Zaccone

    > Libyan coast guard finds illegal, dangerous, overstuffed craft.
    -> Libyan coast guard rescues 158 passengers off of said craft, and provides medical assistance to those who require it. Sinks the illegal craft to prevent it from remaining a risk to others
    > The 3 remaining passengers refused to board the Libyan coast guard vessel to be rescued, so suffer a nasty fate

    How exactly is the Libyan coast guard at fault here? Surely the 3 passengers who refused to be saved decided to put their own lives at risk when they made that decision?

      1. Andyourpointiswhatexactly?

        I’d be less of a smartarse if I’d actually looked at the photos. Jesus Christ.

    1. Anomanomanom

      Completely agree, that mother killed her child by refusing help. Every single boat found should have a choice A: Turn around and go back. B: Come aboard the coast guard boat for help or C: Refuse help but have your boat sunk or completely destroyed. I don’t care cruel or “sick” that sounds, I can’t see it ever stopping unless they know under no circumstances can they entry Europe illegal.

        1. Anomanomanom

          If you refuse to leave a vehicle, a boat in this case, that could be a harm to others and you are told the vehicle will under no circumstances be allowed to keep going and still refuse to leave then you’ve killed your self.

          1. Nigel

            If you advocate for the sinking of vessels with people still on board you are advocating murder.

          2. Rob_G

            They could have towed it to the shore, forcibly removed the mother and child, towed it back and out and then sank it. This would have achieved the same thing, but without drowning anyone.

          3. Anomanomanom

            Why should they have to. Honestly, why? As awful as it is, being this heavy handed is working, I think its half the amount crossing so far this compared to last year. Instead of just taking people in why does Europe not put real pressure on the countries these people are coming from.

          4. Janet, I ate my avatar

            are you suggesting the ends justify the means ?
            isn’t that rather medival

          5. Anomanomanom

            I’m genuinely not normally so black and white, usually there is some grey area/middle ground. But I just cant see it in this scenario. So yes the ends justify the means.

          6. Brother Barnabas

            sorry about your broken nose but it’s your own fault – you should have got out of the way of my fist

          7. Anomanomanom

            Well if you warn me after trying to entry somewhere illegally this will happen, I’m sure several times and I refuse to move out of the way then I’d be an idiot.

          8. Rob_G

            I think that there are other ways of effectively reducing the ‘pull’ factor of Europe without actually sinking boats with people still on them.

          9. Nigel

            1. No it’s murder.
            2. A truly international truly co-operative effort to deal with the refugee crisis would no doubt focus on efforts to find peaceful resolutions to ongoing conflicts while creating stable and secure zones where refugees could remain until those efforts have borne fruit. That is not happening. Instead we’ve got right-wingers whining about immigrants, left-wingers decrying any efforts at intervention as latter-day imperialism, unless it’s Putin, and nobody in power wants to upset the old weapons manufacturer gravy train.

          10. Cian

            They are willing to sit on a boat that is being sunk; if they turned the boat around and towed the it back to Libya they would jump into the water.
            Would that be a better solution?
            Should they be left to drown? Should they be tied up and forced back to Libya?
            We don’t know the horrors they are trying to flee from.

          11. Brother Barnabas

            “they would jump in the water”

            for someone who generally (and admirably, I think) expects statements and assertions to be backed up with facts and evidence, this is an unusual one from you, cian

          12. Cian

            BB: you are correct; I should change that to ” if they turned the boat around and towed the it back to Libya – if they were to jump into the water. […] Should they be left to drown? Should they be tied up and forced back to Libya?”

          13. scottser

            you are plain wrong, anom. whatever ethics you’re hiding behind, are cruel and wrong.

          14. Anomanomanom

            Its working though so I’m not wrong. Maybe next year the figure will drop by half again and so on so on until they stop trying to enter illegally by boat.

          15. Janet, I ate my avatar

            the death of children is wrong
            there is no excuse or validation for that

      1. Murtles

        I think the main point is they were coming from Libya to Europe and the Libyan Coast Guard picked them up and were bringing them back to Libya again from where they were trying to escape from. As we don’t know the horrors some of these people are trying to flee from, we certainly don’t know their frame of mind when faced with that option.

  6. Jesús, María, and Josépha

    I believe there is another BS post on this subject, Shayna – behaviour heavily excused in the comments by FB employees and their hardworking confederates down Grand Canal Dock way as “we need the jobs, etc, etc.”

    1. Shayna

      Shocking as the pics are, BS is a news-driven site. Moderation is in place. I am in the glad place where I don’t need to be responsible to a boss. So sorry to the FB employees in Dublin. Also, Bashir is a very funny guy, we’ve worked together a lot for the BBC in the past.

      1. Shayna

        I have to say I’m not a reporter, nor journalist, but I work on technical broadcast, I’m a technician is all. I thought I’d seen it all in Berlin in ’89 – now, it’s a whole type of different fiasco, perhaps the World has lost its axis? Sorry, I may sound a tad fey on it, but I’ve been in Portugal for a month.
        I think the images, however shocking are justified to remain on BS.

        1. rotide

          So the pictures should be automatically removed from facebook, but should be allowed to appear here uncensored?

          Thats some nice logic you have there Shayna. Stick to telling us about the times celebrities read the words while you pressed scroll down.

          1. Shayna

            I think you may be missing the point. That could be me, or you laying there. I think the World should see, whether I I scrolled down on the script, or not.

  7. Not on your Nelly Too

    Please don’t post dead bodies on here. I know for a fact, if that was an Irish body you wouldn’t do it. Gutter press isn’t the term.

    Show some respect. Everybody who will come back with some “clever” response knows I am right. Got any pics of the people who died from that boat that turned over a few days ago off the Irish coast? If thy were available your wouldn’t dare touch them.

    Actually sickening.

  8. Jeffrey

    WTF BS on the pic, take that off. Also.. there is supposedly about 200 “passers” – people facilitating the migrants “travels” off the coast of Libya. Various governments know who they are. Cant anyone just pick those up to stop this circus? Of course not, since this migration is wanted by the EU (short of laborers). So yeah, this is the collateral damage, accepted by EU states.

  9. Andrew

    Whatever about the Libyan Coast Guard:
    NGO’s as usual are doing more harm than good. They are complicit in the deaths of these people and continue to be in the Med and elsewhere. They seem to answerable to nobody and unaccountable. Funnelling money in to the hands of terrorists and warlords. If the public knew the half of what goes on; these NGO’s would be out of business.

    1. Cian

      Which NGOs are you blaming for these deaths – specifically? And can you explain your reasoning?

      1. Jeffrey

        The reasoning is simple, the Libyan coast guards send the boats back to Libya. The NGO’s boats, do not, they bring the migratns to EU. So in short, as long as NGO doing this, migrants will keep trying.

        1. Cian

          Ah. In that case can we not just blame Bob Geldof?
          If he hadn’t done Live Aid… then millions of Africans wouldn’t have survived the famines in the 80s + 90s… and they wouldn’t have had millions of children… who now wouldn’t be trying to leave Africa.
          [shakes fist]
          damn you Bob!

          1. Andrew

            You need to read a bit more about Live Aid and its actual efficacy.
            I recommend War Games by Linda Polman.
            Yes, I do actually blame Bob Geldof for certainly popularising a wrong-headed and ultimately damaging approach to the problems in Africa and elsewhere

          2. Cian

            Ah. In that case can we not just blame Bob Geldof?
            If he hadn’t done Live Aid… then millions and millions of pounds wouldn’t have been sent to Africa as aid. … and millions of this aid wouldn’t have been syphoned off by the war lords… and this wouldn’t have been available to cause conflict… and then there would bee fewer wars and refugees… who now wouldn’t be trying to leave Africa.
            [shakes fist]
            damn you Bob!

      2. Andrew

        Proactiva Open Arms; Sea-Watch ;Evangelical Church of Germany to name but a few.
        Before them MSF and others who have since ceased operations.
        You can add to that our own Navy as an actual govt. sanctioned mission.
        Jeffrey has explained my reasoning.

  10. rotide

    Does noone else see the irony in broadsheet complaining about Facebook not doing enough to remove images of stuff like dead bodies and then posts pictures of dead bodies literally 20 minutes later?

    1. Andrew

      Proactiva Open Arms is a non-governmental organization from Badalona (Barcelona, Spain) whose main mission is to rescue refugees from the sea

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