Found alive, 25 stowaways inside refrigerated container on ferry

AT least 25 migrants were found alive in a refrigerated container on a ferry bound for Britain last night.

The discovery was made soon after the Britannia Seaways vessel left the Dutch port of Vlaardingen en route to Felixstowe.

It turned around a few miles out of the port near Rotterdam and about 20 ambulances met it as it docked. It was not known where the stowaways had originally come from, although local reports suggested that a child was among them.

A local reporter said one of the migrants was led away by police in handcuffs after acting aggressively. No one is believed to have died, the Dutch emergency services said.

Meanwhile, families of the 39 Vietnamese victims found dead in a refrigerated container in Purfleet, Essex, nearly a month ago will have to borrow from their government to bring back their relatives’ remains.

The price to bring ashes back in a jar is £1,300, while the fee to repatriate a body is £2,000 – more than double the average annual income of some families, according to an official Vietnamese document.

TO fulfil their dreams of a life in Britain, the 39 migrants who died cowering in a refrigerated truck paid huge sums to evil traffickers. Vietnam is now asking the victims’ cripplingly poor families for £2,000 each to repatriate the bodies – compounding their heart-wrenching grief.

Wouldn’t our government footing the bill be a fine gesture, sending a message of compassion in the face of human tragedy.