Refugees told they 'can stay in Ireland'

Irish Justice Minister John O'Donoghue has indicated five surviving refugees found in a container at Wexford at the weekend can stay in Ireland if they apply for asylum.

Eight other people died in the container, including three children. It is believed they died from asphyxiation and cold.

Three of the dead were children - a boy aged about four and a boy and girl of 10 or 11.The adults who died were a woman and four men, the police said.

The five survivors - four men and one woman aged from 17 to 35 - are being treated in the intensive care unit of Wexford General Hospital.

Let us hope we will find those people responsible and this will never happen againe

Superintendent John Farrelly

It is believed they may have been trying to reach Britain but got into the wrong container.

Amnesty International's Patrick Corrigan said it was now understood that the refugees are from Turkey.

Officials from the Turkish embassy in Dublin are visiting them in hospital.

He said: " We don't yet know what made these people undertake this dangerous journey, but Turkey has a bad human rights record.

"Many people are trying to leave the country because they are facing political persecution."

The group were discovered on Saturday by the lorry driver when he delivered his cargo of office furniture at a business park near Wexford town.

Irish detectives working on the case are assessing the reports from Belgium that the party had been heading for a southern English port, but were loaded onto the wrong container.

Those involved in the cruel trade of trafficking in human beings have perpetrated yet another atrocity

Irish Premier
Bertie Ahern

The Irish police are "actively investigating" the likelihood that the 13 had paid traffickers to organise their journey.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern pledged to track down the criminals responsible.

"Those involved in the cruel trade of trafficking in human beings have perpetrated yet another atrocity on the victims of their greed," he said.

'Vulnerable'

Superintendent John Farrelly said Irish police were working with their counterparts in Belgium, Germany and Italy to trace the people responsible.

"All the police forces in Europe are aware of the situation," he said. "Let's hope we will find those people responsible, and this will never happen again."

The container began its journey in Milan, Italy, on 30 November. It then went to Cologne in Germany and left the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, on Tuesday evening - arriving at Waterford port in Ireland on Thursday evening.

The driver, who was treated in hospital for shock after discovering the bodies, had collected the lorry from Waterford and driven it 40 miles (65km) to a business park in Wexford on Saturday.

After hearing noises from the rear of his vehicle, he discovered the seal of the container had been broken and found the refugees.