The 39 asylum seekers who this week had been accommodated on the Bibby Stockholm barge, in southern English waters, have had to be disembarked after some samples of the ship’s water system found levels of legionella, the Interior Ministry reported this Friday. The boat, designed to house around 500 asylum seekers, has three floors and is made up of 222 cabins.

On Monday the first migrants had begun to be housed, all male, and more were expected to arrive in the coming weeks, as part of the government’s policy to reduce the high bill for hosting asylum seekers in hotels. “The health and well-being of the people on the ship is our top priority. Environmental samples from the water system at Bibby Stockholm have shown levels of Legionella bacteria that require further investigation,” an Interior spokesman told the media today.

“After these results, the Ministry of the Interior has been working closely with the UKHSA (the Health and Safety Agency) and following their advice in line with long-established public health processes,” he added. “As a precautionary measure, the 39 asylum seekers who arrived on the ship this week are being disembarked while more evaluations are done.

No person on board has shown symptoms of legionella, and asylum seekers receive appropriate advice and support“, the spokesman pointed out. The source clarified that the samples are only linked to the water system of the boat, so there is no direct risk to the community of the South Dorset area. It is estimated that local authorities spend about six million pounds (6.96 million euros) a day to accommodate migrants who are in an irregular situation in hotels.

The director of the rights of migrants and refugees of the humanitarian organization Amnesty International (AI), Steve Valdez-Symonds, had criticized the measure this week, indicating that it is about “a completely shameful way to house people who have fled terrorconflict and persecution.”