Police in Belgium have discovered 12 migrants alive in the back of a refrigerated truck.
Reports from Belgium suggest that the driver of the truck alerted authorities to the migrants on board. Emergency services came to the scene where the lorry was parked in an motorway car park just outside of Antwerp. The vehicle had also been carrying fruit and vegetables.
It is believed that all of those who were discovered are men, and originally came from Syria and Sudan.
The incident follows last week’s discovery of 39 dead bodies in the back of a refrigerated lorry in Essex, England. The Essex Police have since arrested several people from Northern Ireland and the UK, and are currently searching for two men with links to Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
One man from Armagh remains in custody charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and money laundering
There was also Belgian connection the last week’s incident, as the trailer carrying the deceased had entered the United Kingdom from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. Antwerp is roughly 100km from Zeebrugge.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge