A container-load of courier mail has disappeared without trace en route to Europe, it was confirmed last night. It was dispatched on Monday via the Express Mails Service division of An Post.
EMS has informed anxious customers whose parcels failed to arrive that it has no information about the whereabouts of the 29 bags containing their mail.
A spokeswoman for An Post said the container was put on a DHL courier company plane bound for Brussels on Monday. EMS goods leaving Ireland would have been put in a special container, as part of a consignment going to Brussels via East Midlands Airport in Britain.
"DHL operations people have confirmed that the plane was diverted somewhere en route, possibly to Luton, and that the container was opened," An Post's spokeswoman said. "It appears that our mail was taken out and put into the belly of the plane. The container was subsequently reused."
A spokeswoman for DHL said last night the EMS mail was not a DHL shipment. "It happened to be on a DHL plane in space sold to General Freight Services and sub-contracted on to An Post."