A man has been arrested following the death of a woman in an incident on board a ferry bound for Rosslare Europort from Fishguard in Wales.
Armed gardaí, along with the public order unit, were called to the scene of the incident which occurred on board a Stena passenger ferry on Tuesday evening.
The ship was understood to have been carrying a significant number of passengers on its service, including some returning from the weekend’s Six Nations rugby fixture. They were all kept on-board into Tuesday night as investigating gardaí took statements and attempted to piece together a sequence of events. The Fishguard service typically has a capacity for up to 450 passengers when full.
The woman, whose age was not confirmed, is said to have died in unexplained circumstances. A man was subsequently arrested on the ship and was being held at an undisclosed Garda station for questioning under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
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Gardaí suspect the woman suffered fatal injuries in a confined area believed to be a toilet. When she was found unresponsive, a serious disturbance broke out between a number of people.
Though the investigation was in its early stages on Tuesday night, the main line of inquiry was that the deceased knew the person who attacked her. Gardaí also believe the row that erupted after the victim was found unresponsive involved a group of people who were known to each other.
Given the serious and unusual nature of events, and the subsequent group row, a large number of gardaí were deployed to the port to await the boat’s arrival.
A crime scene was declared by several awaiting units of gardaí which included members of the Armed Support Unit and Public Order Unit. The arrested man taken into custody shortly after the boat docked.
It is understood that the ship’s captain made an emergency call reporting that an “incident” had taken place on the ferry, which left Fishguard port at 2pm and arrived in Rosslare at 5.30pm.
Stena Line confirmed that an incident had taken place on board and as a result there was disruption to two ferries due to sail from the Europort. Both the 7.30pm sailing from Rosslare and 1.30am ferry from Fishguard were cancelled.
In a statement, gardaí said that while they “conduct enquiries on board, there are no public safety issues at this time”.
Gardaí are currently making contact with the family of the injured person.
Gardaí added there was “no additional information available at this time. An Garda Síochána is not in a position to confirm the exact details of any injuries at this time.”
It is understood that the woman’s body will be taken to University Hospital Waterford (UHW) for a postmortem to be carried out.
A senior officer has been appointed to lead the investigation and a family liaison officer has been assigned to provide support and information to the deceased’s family.
