Eight of the ten migrant workers from Thailand, who were injured on Tuesday in a car crash in Finland have been released from Seinäjoki Central Hospital, where they were treated and have returned to the camping centre where they live while working as seasonal berry pickers.
The two workers most seriously injured in the accident remained in intensive care, reports the Finnish news site, yle.fi.
The migrant workers’ care at the hospital was facilitated by a social worker, a Thai interpreter, and a nurse with Thai-language skills who works at the facility.
According to Kaija-Riitta Suonsyrjö, a nurse who works at the emergency department of the Southern Ostrobothnia Hospital District, the inclusion of a Thai-speaking nurse into the care team was paramount. With this nurse’s assistance, the treatment of the injured workers has progressed more smoothly than if there was no common language, according the Suonsyrjö.
Jukka Kristo, Managing Director of Polarica, the company which employs the Thai berry pickers, told Yle that the people involved in the accident are shocked by the incident but will continue to work based on their own individual ability to pick berries.
The company’s original objective was to keep the Thai workers under contract until September or October.
