A supposed language barrier proved to be a major hurdle for crew members onboard a cargo ship; they were mistaken as illegal immigrants.
What happened?
On Thursday morning, a language barrier led to security frenzy at a port when Syrian crew members were asked to leave a docked cargo ship in Waterford.
Their request to disembark for a few hours was misinterpreted as an attempt to enter Ireland illegally.
But it turned out that they wanted to go shopping in the nearby city centre to replace a broken mobile phone.
Alarm raised:
An alarm was raised and Gardaí swooped on Belview Port expecting to deal with an immigration case.
The security frenzy was stood down when the men explained that they were not seeking asylum.
Statement released:
A Garda source confirmed, “There was an incident, but it appears to have been a case of miscommunication. They were not trying to stay here.”
A spokesman for the South East Port Services said: “There is no issue here. 21 crew members came in and 21 crew members will go out.”
He added: “I don’t know what happened or why the Gardaí were called.”
Management at Waterford Port said: “There were no stowaways onboard. We understand the alert has been stood down.”
Ports in the south east have previously been a gateway for illegal immigration, leaving them on high alert.
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Source: Irish Mirror
