Proving that ultra-nationalists are about as smart as they are ethical, a few members of italy’s right wing populist Lega Nord found themselves aboard a sinking ship – literally. Ignoring the sad fact that each year more than 1’700 refugees drown trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa to Europe, a group of seven ‘concerned patriots’ embarked on a trip to prove that taking this journey was still far too easy.

And so they checked out a Zodiac, and tried crossing the Mediterranean from Italy to Tunisia, only to have their outboard motor catch on fire close to Malta. Brave men as they were, they decided to call it quits and signal Malta’s coast guard. Unfortunately their collective brain trust wasn’t enough to even get this matter right – they managed to fire the flare directly into their boat, sinking it.

Luckily, the story ends well on not one, but two accounts:
The clowns were rescued by the Maltese coast guard. And the incident proved that Lega Nord’s beliefs really are as stupid as their members.