Detectives from the Garda National Immigration Bureau are convinced that Britain was the intended destination for the 13 asylum-seekers who were discovered on Saturday in a container brought by ship from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Belview Port, near Waterford.
Eight of them were dead, and the other five were taken to hospital after they were found when the container was opened in Wexford Business Park on Saturday morning.
Inside the container, garda∅ found contact telephone numbers for Britain. There was nothing to indicate that the immigrants had any intention of coming to Ireland.
Garda∅ say they believe the stowaways entered the wrong container by accident, believing they were making the fairly short crossing to Britain rather than a long trip to Ireland. The five survivors would have endured stifling conditions, extreme temperatures and a gruelling 21/2-day voyage to Ireland from Zeebrugge through a force 10 gale.
The P&O Ferrymasters container began its journey to Ireland in Milan, Italy, where it was loaded with Canadian-made office furniture from a warehouse, destined for a computer company in Wexford.
It left there by road on November 30th before switching to rail and travelling through Switzerland and on to Cologne in Germany where it arrived two days later on December 2nd.
It then continued by road to the major international Belgian seaport of Zeebrugge. Garda∅ say it is highly likely that this is where the asylum-seekers boarded the container by breaking and rejoining its security seal.
The container was loaded by crane on to a cargo ship, the Dutch Navigator, which sailed from Zeebrugge at 6 p.m. on December 4th via the North Sea, English Channel and Celtic Sea. The container was placed in the lower hold of the vessel, which would have left it well out of the hearing range of the ship's crew if anyone was crying for help or trying to attract attention. The ship hit a force 10 gale as it made for the English Channel on Wednesday.
It arrived at Belview Port near Waterford at 11 p.m. last Thursday night, December 6th.
The container was removed from the ship, stored on shore and then loaded on to a lorry owned by a local haulage company, Eagle Transport, ready for pick-up by a driver at around 8 a.m. Saturday, December 8th.
The driver drove the 40 miles to Drinagh in just over an hour, arriving at Wexford Business Park at about 9.30 a.m. It was here that the driver and another man noticed that the container's seal was broken. Garda∅ were called.
If the immigrants entered the container only at Zeebrugge, they may have been waiting in or around the port for days for a suitable ride.
The asylum-seekers were clearly assisted. Not only did someone have to have bolt-cutters to sever the metal seal, but the sliding metal bars that hold the doors shut had to be slid into place again from outside. The broken seal was rejoined using a silicone sealant.
There has never been a recorded incident of a refugee coming to Ireland via Zeebrugge - the 53-hour sea journey is a deterrent. In previous incidents asylum-seekers stowing away in containers have boarded vessels in France bound for Rosslare port in Co Wexford.
It is thought most likely the stowaways thought they were going either to the British port of Hull, which is roughly a seven-hour journey away, or to Dover, roughly 11 hours away.
These routes are served by roll-on-roll-off ferries, which also means their container would have been driven directly off the ferry in Britain. Had this happened, presumably they would have been discovered by the container's driver much earlier.
The group had clothing and covers with them as well as food and water supplies remaining. The identity documents found in the container suggest that six of the group were Turkish.