A destitute migrant worker had both legs amputated after being found suffering frostbite on the streets of Northern Ireland, it was revealed tonight.
She had been sleeping rough in sub-zero temperatures when an ambulance crew rushed her to hospital to be treated for hypothermia, shocked medical staff disclosed.
Later the victim, aged 23 from the Ukraine, underwent a critical emergency operation at the City Hospital in Belfast.
One source said: "She is so utterly shellshocked that she's completely closed down." East Derry MP Mr Gregory Campbell has demanded a full inquiry.
Mr Patrick Yu, director of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, claimed fear and isolation would compound her agony. "This woman would have no family or local community to fall back on. "Eastern European countries don't have any support networks of their own in Northern Ireland."
Trauma counsellors have been brought in to help her deal with the situation. Interpreters are also communicating with the depressed and withdrawn woman in an attempt to find out more about her harrowing ordeal.
She was picked up in Coleraine, Derry on New Year's Day - a week after losing contact with Polish friends.
A police inquiry was also ordered to check any possible exploitation of foreign workers by criminals. Specialists have been shielding her as she tries to come to terms with the double amputation, but today detectives received clearance to interview her.
PA