Staffer Finds 16 People Inside Sealed Trailer On Ireland-Bound Ferry

Staffer Finds 16 People Inside Sealed Trailer on Ireland-Bound Ferry

Sixteen people were found and freed from a sealed truck container on a ferry going from France to Ireland, the ferry operator's spokesman said on Thursday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2019) Sixteen people were found and freed from a sealed truck container on a ferry going from France to Ireland, the ferry operator's spokesman said on Thursday.

"One of our employees during a routine inspection discovered 16 people in a sealed trailer on the vehicle deck," Stena Line chief communications officer Ian Hampton said in a statement.

The ferry, Stena Horizon, left Cherbourg in France on Wednesday evening and set sail for Rosslare in the Republic of Ireland, where it was expected to arrive at 3:30 p.m. (GMT) on Thursday.

"All the individuals are reported to be in good health and have been moved to a private passenger lounge on the ship," Hampton said, adding Irish immigration authorities had been alerted to their presence.

The stowaways are all men aged between 20 and 40, according to the Irish public broadcaster RTE. Their nationality is not known but they are believed to hail from Asia. They reportedly came to France through Belgium.

The discovery comes less than a month after bodies of 39 Vietnamese men and woman were found inside an abandoned truck trailer in southeastern England in the United Kingdom.