Several hundred local people joined relatives of the dead, survivors, politicians, clergymen and gardaí in Wexford yesterday afternoon for a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of last year's container tragedy.
Eight stowaways, whose bodies were discovered when a freight container was opened at a business park in the town, had travelled to Ireland by mistake, having left the Belgian port of Zeebrugge in the belief that they faced a half-day journey to Dover, England.
Instead, the sealed 40ft metal container in which they died was brought on a 53-hour journey in rough seas to the port of Waterford, where it arrived on December 6th, 2001. After docking, the container, which was loaded with office furniture, was transported to Wexford Business Park at Drinagh, where it was opened two days later.
Inside were the remains of two men in their 20s; a 41-year-old man and his 10- and 12-year-old children; and a 28-year-old woman along with her two sons aged nine and three.
The five survivors of the tragedy - some of whom attended yesterday's ceremony in Wexford - included a man, woman and teenage boy from Turkish Kurdistan, as well as two men from Albania and Algeria.
Gardaí established that the group were charged about €1,300 each to be transported to Britain, where they all had relatives.
Among those in Wexford yesterday was Mr Huseyin Erdogan, brother-in-law of Mr Hasan Kalendergil, who died along with his children Zeliha (10) and Kalendar (12). Mr Erdogan recited a Kurdish poem called The Eight Swallows. Mr Kalendergil's wife, Kadriye, thanked those who attended the ceremony.
Also present was Mr Karadede Güler who lost his wife, Saniye, and children Imam (9) and Berkan (3). Addressing the dead, Mr Güler said; "I am left alone on my own in this world, no one to understand me. Birds sing songs while I cry on your grave; a grave is no place for you. It has no windows or doors. My heart is aching without you. I wish we could all go home together." A survivor of the container tragedy, Mr Eyup Isik, spoke through an interpreter to thank the people of Wexford for their care and to sympathise with the grieving families. Mr Isik is now 17 and working in Wexford. He hopes to make a return visit to Turkey in June.
Mr Peter O'Mahony, of the Irish Refugee Council, expressed his sympathy to the relatives and friends of the deceased who had travelled from Britain and elsewhere in Ireland to mark the anniversary. He asked Irish people not to forget what happened a year ago so that the tragedy would not be repeated. "We were once a country of emigrant people. For my own part, I didn't meet my eldest brother until I was six or seven as he had left Ireland before I was born - one of many who took the boat abroad. Today, he would be referred to as an 'economic migrant'."
Mr Brendan Howlin TD said the fateful day brought about an enormous change in people's attitudes towards the plight of asylum-seekers and refugees.
"We were all deeply affected by the sadness of this tragedy. To think something we would have considered as an abstract concept could have become a reality. It then became flesh and blood and the reality of these people's situations struck home."
Yesterday's ceremony was organised by Kurdistan Solidarity Ireland.