 The Home Office was not told Legionella bacteria had been found on theBibby Stockholm barge in Dorset for three days, it has been reported. The water had been tested by Dorset Council's environmental health department on July 25 but the results came back on Monday, August 7, after the all-clear had been given for asylum seekers to move onto the barge, according to the Telegraph. The migrants spent three days on the vessel in Portland Port before ministers were finally told of the test results on Wednesday evening, the newspaper said. All 37 were evacuated the following day and moved to hotels while the barge is cleaned and made safe, which one expert predicted would take a week. The council told the Telegraph it gave the test results to the barge's contractors, because they are 'the responsible body for the barge, employed by the Home Office'. The contractors, however, reportedly did not alert the Home Office. It is believed they eventually contacted the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Wednesday evening, who then called an urgent incident meeting for Thursday morning. Dorset Council originally opposed the plans for Bibby Stockholm to house migrants and had planned to take legal action, but in the end decided this would be too costly and it was unlikely the council would win. Legionella bacteria is commonly found in water but can cause a serious type of pneumonia affecting the lungs, known as Legionnaires' disease. In some cases it can be fatal. None of those on the barge are showing signs of having the disease, the Home Office said. David Harper, of Harper Water Management Group, told the Guardian it would take around a week to cleanup the barge. Mr Harper, an expert in waterborne contamination prevention and emergency response, said the first step for the cleanup team would be disinfecting the barge. The asylum seekers){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
The Home Office was not told Legionella bacteria had been found on theBibby Stockholm barge in Dorset for three days, it has been reported.
The water had been tested by Dorset Council’s environmental health department on July 25 but the results came back on Monday, August 7, after the all-clear had been given for asylum seekers to move onto the barge, according to the Telegraph.
The migrants spent three days on the vessel in Portland Port before ministers were finally told of the test results on Wednesday evening, the newspaper said.
All 37 were evacuated the following day and moved to hotels while the barge is cleaned and made safe, which one expert predicted would take a week.