Another “refugee rescue” vessel, another scam.

This time it’s the Open Arms, whose owners say is packed with desperate children in ill health. It turns out that the desperation is fake, the children are fake, and the ill health is fake — it’s Fake News about fake everything.

Many thanks to FouseSquawk for translating this article from the Giornale di Sicilia:

Open Arms, inspection on board: “No emergency”. Migrants jump into the sea.

August 18, 2019

According to what we have learned from the inspection on the Open Arms, ordered by the Public Prosecutor of Agrigento, no particular critical health and hygiene issues have emerged to trigger the emergency. The inspection was carried out yesterday to check the hygiene/sanitary conditions on the ship where there are 107 people who were shipwrecked. The migrants are piled on the deck of the boat, they sleep on the floor without any mattress, they cover themselves with sheets and tablecloths, and according to the NGO they are psychologically exhausted.

According to the report of the doctors of Cismo, there may be cases of scabies but at the moment, there are no institutional confirmations in this regard. It is certain, however, that no evacuation has yet been arranged. For 107 migrants, those left on the ship, it is the 17th day on board, with the Open Arms still off Lampedusa, facing Cala Francese.

Obviously the controversy continues. “Imaginary patients, imaginary minors, now imaginary health emergencies … The Open Arms NGO and its accomplices are reaching the height of the ridiculous; the Italians are good but not stupid”. This was written by the Minister of Interior, Matteo Salvini, on Facebook.

“Day 17. Miserable. Miserable are those who use 107 human beings ‘without names’ and volunteers as hostages to make xenophobic and racist propaganda. All those who permit this and make jokes about their pain are accomplices,” says the NGO on Twitter.

Nineteen minors of the 27 people taken from the Open Arms will be transferred to Porto Empedocle by ferry. The other eight, who have admitted to being adults after the evacuation, will remain at the “hotspot” of the island, subject to medical checks, also to assess their real age.

“We can no longer contain the desperation. We can no longer explain. There are no words. You are cowards. Hashtag a secure port immediately”. That is what the Spanish NGO, Open Arms, (says) on Twitter, posting a video of four migrants who tried to reach Lampedusa by swimming, after throwing themselves in the water wearing life jackets. Three rescuers go after them, and after reaching them, take them back onboard the boat.