UK government rejects claims it was slow to evacuate asylum-seekers after bacteria detected on barge
By DANICA KIRKA
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government has rejected claims that it was slow to evacuate asylum-seekers from a barge moored off the south coast of England once traces of the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease were found in the ship’s water system. In the latest critique of the government’s ballyhooed efforts to control migration and reduce the cost of housing a rising number of asylum-seekers, local health officials said over the weekend that the barge operator was told about the bacteria last Monday — the day before asylum-seekers were moved onto the vessel.
