Initial post mortem results on the bodies of eight refugees found dead in Wexford show that they died of inoxication.
They died from lack of oxygen going to the brain in the back on a freight container. State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, concluded the post mortem examinations last night.
In a separate development, Belgian police raided a house in Brussels as part of the investigation into the deaths of the eight who were found on Saturday. No arrests were made during the raid, which resulted from extensive co-operation between Irish and other European police forces.
More details have emerged about the routes taken by the refugees before they arrived in Brussels. Police in Brussels raided the city centre residence, where it is believed the 13 asylum seekers rendezvoused. It is thought that they were then taken to the ill-fated transport container in which eight of them eventually perished.
The address is believed to have been a safe house operated by a criminal gang running trafficking operations. The refugees, nine Turks, two Albanians and two Algerians, are believed to have arrived in Brussels via two separate routes.
The Turkish group came via Albania, Italy and Germany before arriving in Brussels. The Algerians are believed to have crossed by motor launch to Gibraltar, crossing into Spain before travelling North through France to Belgium.
Both groups are believed to have been placed in the containers somewhere between Brussels and the ferry port of Zeebrugge.
Officers from the Irish National Immigration Bureau are believed to have travelled to Belgium on Saturday as the tragedy unfolded. They are involved in the current investigation.
