Three men found in Rosslare shipping container remain in hospital, others in Garda custody

Wexford gardaí and the Garda National Immigration Bureau are “investigating all circumstances” surrounding an incident in which six males were discovered in a container at Rosslare Europort on Thursday.

Three of the people remained at Wexford General Hospital.

Emergency services were alerted at around 6am on Thursday after one of the men inside the container made a distress call.

Independent Cllr Ger Carthy said there was initial difficulty establishing the caller’s location, but a phone-location system used by the emergency control room identified the call as coming from a vessel travelling to Rosslare Europort.

A response was then co-ordinated involving port staff, immigration services and the National Ambulance Service.

Five men and a juvenile were located inside a container after the vessel docked at Rosslare Europort and they were taken to Wexford General Hospital.

Carthy said three had since been released from hospital into Garda custody. The rest remained under the care of the hospital staff.

Rosslare Europort handles hundreds of thousands of trailer movements each year. Carthy said incidents involving people attempting to travel in freight containers arose from time to time.

A spokesperson for Wexford gardaí said: “The investigation into the incident is continuing.”