Bodies found at Italian port

Italy is a major entry point for illegal immigrants

Italian police have discovered the bodies of four suspected illegal immigrants in a container in the north-western post of Livorno.

The four, all young men, were carrying no documents but are believed to have all been Romanian.

They were found when a policeman noticed seals had been broken on the container and investigated.

The container, which Italian TV said was carrying a cargo of tiles, had been due to be shipped to Canada.

Police did not give the cause of death of the four.

Latest tragedy

According to the BBC's Rome correspondent, David Willey, the number of Romanians entering Italy illegally has grown in recent months as economic conditions continue to deteriorate at home.

Romanians are also attracted to Italy because the Italian language is conveniently close to Romanian.

The deaths follow the discovery in Ireland this weekend of the bodies of eight refugees who died of suffocation inside a freight container which had departed from Italy.

Most of the dead on that occasion were from Turkey.