Sean Penn, last seen trying to bail out his sinking boat with a horrible red plastic cup, tells a London paper this morning that he was pulling drowning people out of the water. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

And of course, he also blasts the Bush administration.

The US government was accused of “criminal negligence” as hopes of finding survivors faded and the death toll from Hurricane Katrina continued to rise.

Holidaymakers returning to the UK spoke of the scale of the misery while one said leering police officers demanded young women flash their breasts in return for help.

Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Sean Penn, who has been assisting rescue efforts in New Orleans, said the US government did not “seem to be inclined to help”.

“We were pulling drowning people out of the water, it’s the ultimate distress and human suffering … dead bodies,” he told GMTV.

Penn said he had spent nine hours on Monday searching the water for people and during all that time he saw just three boats carrying US officials.

“There are people that are dying right now and I mean babies and old people and everybody in between - they’re dying. There are people dying and (the US government are) not putting the boats in the water, I think that’s criminal negligence. I don’t think anybody ever anticipated the criminal negligence of the Bush administration in this situation.”