Migrant loses legs to frostbite

In a tragic story this month, a 23-year-old Ukrainian worker has had her legs amputated after she was found suffering from hypothermia and frostbite.

The woman, who was paid off from a meat processing plant neat Ballymoney in County Antrim before Christmas, had been sleeping rough in sub-zero temperatures in Coleraine, County Derry, and only contacted friends on New Year's Day when her situation became unbearable.

Her friends immediately called for help and the woman was taken to the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine before being transferred to Belfast City Hospital, where surgeons amputated both legs.

It is understood that her family in Ukraine do not have a telephone but a letter has been sent to her mother informing her of the situation.

Sinn Féin Coleraine Councillor Billy Leonard (above) said the case must be fully investigated by social services to make sure such neglect doesn't occur again.

He told An Phoblacht that proper structures must be put in place to make sure immigrant workers are not marginalised on the edge of society, "not just by social services but by employers who employ migrant workers as cheap labour and discard them when they have no work for them".

Leonard said a support network should be immediately put in place for migrant workers to make sure they are entitled to and receive the same services and entitlements as others.