The six people rescued from a shipping container bound for Rosslare Europort had endured a “very traumatic” experience, a local councillor has said. 

Yesterday, emergency services received a distress call but the caller was unable to tell them their location. 

Eventually, the call was pinpointed to a ship bound for Rosslare Europort and ambulances were dispatched. 

“The National Ambulance Service deployed a number of resources to the port, including tactical managers, response vehicles and emergency ambulances,” local Councillor and National Ambulance Service manager Gerard Carthy told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“They treated at the scene six male occupants of a shipping container that had entered the port of Rosslare from Belgium. 

“They were subsequently transferred into Wexford General Hospital for the medical care of the staff of Wexford General Hospital.”

Cllr Carthy continued that it is “very difficult” to know how long the six people were in the shipping container for. 

“They could have been there hours, they could have been there days before that ship left for the port of Rosslare,” he said. 

“[They were]  very distressed at the time, naturally enough, if you're inside a container for over 36 hours, it can be a very traumatic experience and they were treated at the scene and subsequently transferred to Wexford General. 

“I think the status as of this morning is that three have been discharged and three are under the care of Wexford General.” 

Cllr Carthy added that he is “not privy” to information about what conditions were like inside the shipping container, but added that you “can imagine how that would play out over a 36 hour period in the black dark, in a sealed container”. 

“A lot of people in these similar conditions come in refrigerated trailers, but these people were in a shipping container, a big steel box for want of a better word,” he said. 

“A very difficult position for any human being to be in.”

Main image: An ambulance. Picture by: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie.