The last of the eight Turkish stowaways found dead in a container in Co Wexford last weekend is due to be formally identified by his father today. The 23-year-old was named yesterday by members of the Turkish Kurd community as Mr Yuksel Ucaroglu from Gazi Antep in the south-east of the country.
The identification of the man will pave the way for an inquest in Wexford, which is necessary before his body can be released to his relatives. Post-mortem results released yesterday showed all eight died of inoxia, or lack of oxygen to the brain.
Inquests into the deaths of four of the group, including a mother and her sons aged nine and three, were carried out on Tuesday. Inquests on the remaining four, three of whom have already been identified by relatives, are due within days.
Meanwhile, a lorry-driver charged in Belgium in connection with the case will appear in a Bruges court today on charges of co-operating with human smugglers. The man is suspected of having driven the lorry which took the container of office furniture bound for Ireland to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge ahead of its departure to Ireland late on Thursday December 6th.
It is believed the 13 stowaways were placed in the container which was then resealed somewhere in Belgium.
Three Belgian police officers have arrived in Wexford to interview the five survivors of the ordeal and liaise with garda∅.
Garda∅ have established that the group of 11 Turks, one Albanian and one Algerian thought they were embarking on a journey of a few hours to the British port of Dover, but instead were erroneously sealed into a 40-ft metal container destined for Ireland. They endured a 53-hour sailing and gale-force conditions in the English Channel. The container had four small air vents of about 6 in by 3 in, which would have restricted the amount of air circulating.
Chief Supt Martin Donnellan, who heads the Garda National Immigration Bureau, said the stowaways had been charged about £1,000 a head to be transported to Britain where they all had relatives. Part of the money had to be paid in advance.
Chief Supt Donnellan said "panic set in" among relatives of the stowaways in Britain when the container did not arrive in Britain on Friday. He said telephone calls were made to different British ports by family members.
He said he would inquire into reported complaints by the Belgian authorities that co-operation with Irish investigators had been unsatisfactory. He said no such complaints had been received by the investigating team in Ireland.
"Co-operation has been very good and if there are any difficulties they'll have to be sorted out but I'm not aware of any difficulties. We will be making inquiries to be Belgian authorities if there are any," he added.
Chief Supt Donnellan said any tangible evidence the garda∅ had uncovered had been passed on to the Belgian authorities.