Bibby Stockholm migrants moved off barge after legionella bacteria found

Nearly 40 asylum-seekers on the government’s Bibby Stockholm barge are being moved off after the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease was found on board. The bacteria was found in the water supply, but it’s understood no migrants have fallen ill and the evacuation is a precautionary measure. Immigration minister Robert Jenrick is understood to be holding meetings about the situation. The Bibby Stockholm at Portland in Dorset (Ben Birchall/PA) Staff were later also due to be taken off the barge, but The Independent understands that some asylum-seekers and staff remained on board after the Home Office’s announcement on Friday afternoon. Charity workers said that at least three asylum-seekers contacted following news reports of the outbreak had not been informed of it or issued with any safety precautions over using water on the barge. The migrants are likely to be moved back to Home Office hotels. The first group had been transferred to the controversial accommodation at Portland Port in Dorset on Monday. Around 50 people had initially been expected to be in the first group moved to the vessel, following several delays and rounds of safety checks. But ‘last-minute legal challenges’ reduced that number and 39 people had been on board. The government had hoped to house up to 500 men on board, and dozens of other asylum-seekers were initially selected for the barge but their transfers were cancelled after legal letters to the Home Office, which raised issues including mental and physical health issues. Legionnaires’ disease is a lung infection – a potentially fatal form of pneumonia, caused when a person breathes in air that contains legionella bacteria in droplets of water. It can be treated with antibiotics. Dr Bharat Pankhania, a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter’s medical school, said better plumbing with hotter water would reduce the risk of bacteria spreading and coming from showers. People over 45, smokers and heavy drinkers and people suffering from chronic respiratory or kidney disease or with suppressed immune systems are most at risk. Dr Pankhania said nobody knew what the risk had been, but said he thought most of the migrants on the boat did not fall into those categories. The bacteria can spread in the showers on board A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘The health and welfare of individuals on the vessel is our utmost priority. ‘Environmental samples from the water system on the Bibby Stockholm have shown levels of legionella bacteria, which require further investigation. ‘Following these results, the Home Office has been working closely with UKHSA and following its advice in line with long established public health processes, and ensuring all protocol from Dorset Council’s Environmental Health team and Dorset NHS is adhered to. ‘As a precautionary measure, all 39 asylum-seekers who arrived on the vessel this week are being disembarked while further assessments are undertaken. ‘No individuals on board have presented with symptoms of Legionnaires’, and asylum-seekers are being provided with appropriate advice and support. Portland residents took packs containing flowers and toiletries to the port for migrants ‘The samples taken relate only to the water system on the vessel itself and therefore carry no direct risk indication for the wider community of Portland nor do they relate to fresh water entering the vessel. Legionnaires’ disease does not spread from person to person.’ If the bacteria that causes the disease get into water supplies in buildings, they can cause a risk to humans through air-conditioning systems, showers and spa pools. Medical experts say Legionnaires’ disease does not spread from person to person and can be contracted only from contaminated water, usually when it is inhaled. Charity Care4Calais, which supports migrans, said ministers should now realise that keeping refugees on barges was ‘untenable’. Chief executive Steve Smith said: ‘We have always known our concerns over the health and safety of the barge are justified, and this latest mismanagement proves our point. ‘The Bibby Stockholm is a visual illustration of this government’s hostile environment against refugees, but it has also fast become a symbol for the shambolic incompetence which has broken Britain’s asylum system. ‘The government should now realise warehousing refugees in this manner is completely untenable, and should focus on the real job at hand – processing the asylum claims swiftly, so refugees may become contributing members of our communities as they so strongly wish.’ Most of the asylum-seekers so far housed on the government’s controversial barge are not small boat migrants and arrived in the UK legally on passenger planes, The Independent has revealed . The Home Office declined to comment on why asylum-seekers said they had not been told anything about the bacteria or given safety precautions about using water.