The bodies of the Turkish stowaways found dead in Wexford at the weekend are due to be released to their relatives following an inquest in the town's courthouse today.
Post mortems carried out by the State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison, confirmed that the cause of death was inoxia, or lack of oxygen to the brain. He is expected to issue death certificates for seven of the eight stowaways who perished in the 40-foot sealed metal container they travelled in from Belgium. These certificates are necessary to allow the bodies to leave the country.
The father of the eighth victim, a teenage Turkish boy, will arrive in Ireland today from Ankara to help garda∅ establish his identity.
The condition of the five survivors continued to improve in Wexford General Hospital last night. Garda∅ said they would interview the survivors once they had time to recover further from their ordeal. The Department of Justice has said they will receive any counselling they need to help them cope with the trauma.
Belgian police are understood to have questioned a truck driver thought to have transported the group on the final leg of their journey in mainland Europe.
In a separate development, Belgian police raided a house in Brussels which may have been used as a gathering point for the group. The city centre premises was forensically examined, but no arrests were made during the raid which resulted from extensive co-operation between Irish and other European police forces.
The group of 11 Turks, including a Kurdish family, an Albanian and an Algerian, are believed to have arrived in Brussels by separate routes. The Turkish group came through Albania, Italy and Germany before arriving in Brussels. The Algerians are believed to have crossed by launch to Gibraltar and headed north through Spain and France to Belgium. Both groups are thought to have been put in the container somewhere between Brussels and the ferry port of Zeebrugge.
Police in Ireland and Belgium are continuing their investigations,
The Belgian newspaper Le Soir, citing state prosecutor's office sources, said they wanted to interview the survivors in Ireland.
The newspaper suggested that the immigrants may have boarded the container at Limburg, near the German border, between Cologne and Zeebrugge. The driver had slept there the night before.
The Garda believes the stowaways' intended destination was England, a journey of a few hours, but were put instead in a sealed container bound for Belview port near Waterford. The group endured a 53-hour journey through rough seas.