Diane Abbott blasted over tweet saying 41 migrants who died in Lampedusa shipwreck ‘f***ed off to the bottom of the sea’
DIANE Abbott has sparked outrage after she tweeted that migrants who died in a shipwreck “f***ed off to the bottom of the sea”.
The MP made the foul-mouthed comments after 41 migrants were killed off the island of Lampedusa in Italy after setting off from Tunisia on Thursday.
At 3.33pm today, Ms Abbott tweeted a link to an article about the death, saying: “These migrants have indeed f***** off. To the bottom of the sea.”
It was deleted an hour later.
Ms Abbott’s comments come after Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson’s told The Express that if migrants do not want to be housed on a barge, they should “f*** off back to France”.
The 20ft boat which sank today had 45 people onboard, including three children.
But it ran into trouble only six hours after departing when a huge wave slammed into the doomed vessel.
Only 15 migrants were wearing lifejackets, although this seems to have failed to save their lives.
Four survivors – a 13-year-old boy, two men and a woman – floated on inner tubes and lifejackets before finding another empty boat.
Stranded at sea, they spent several days drifting in the water before they were finally rescued, German rescue charity Sea-Watch said.
Heartwrenching images show the survivors frantically waving for help as rescuers approached.
Over 1,800 people have died during the deadly crossing from North Africa to Europe so far this year.
MPs were quick to blast Ms Abbott for her tweet.
Tory former minister Brendan Clarke-Smith tweeted: “And to think that Sir Keir Starmer campaigned for this person to be made our Home Secretary.
“We all know that you can’t take Labour seriously on immigration or national security, but what a shame they also seek to exploit tragedies like this to push their warped agenda.”
A Conservative spokesman said Ms Abbott’s tweet was ‘wrong’.