Stowaways found in Irish ferry fridge off Devon

  • Published
Epsilon
Image caption,
The men were found on board the Epsilon ferry, between Cherbourg and Dublin

Two stowaways were airlifted to hospital with hypothermia after being found hidden in fridge on a passenger ferry.

Kingsbridge Police said the Afghan men were on board a Cherbourg, France to Dublin, Ireland service when they were found 20 miles off the Devon coast.

They were taken to hospital in Plymouth by coastguard helicopter at 19:30 BST on Sunday.

Both have since been discharged and are being held by Border Force.

A spokesperson for Irish ferries said: "The stowaways managed to evade numerous checks at the French port and had hidden themselves in a refrigerated trailer on the freight deck.

"One of our crew was alerted by one of the men trying to attract attention by banging the inside of the trailer. He thankfully managed to get the trailer open."

The ferry, called Epsilon, continued its journey and arrived in Dublin on Monday.

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.