Netherlands ferry: At least 25 people found after punching air hole in refrigerated container bound for UK

Ferry had been en route to Felixstowe, Suffolk, when 25 were discovered

At least 25 people have been found in a refrigerated container aboard a ferry in the Netherlands that had been scheduled to head for Britain.

Tracking data for the ship - a Britannia Seaways ferry – shows it returned to port in the city of Vlaardingen shortly after leaving for the UK at around 5pm. It had originally been scheduled to arrive in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Two of the 25 were raced to hospital after assessment on the ground by paramedics. The other 23 are being held by the police, with a bus seen transporting them away from the port.

Gert Jakobsen, vice president of communications with the ship’s operator DFDS, said the migrants were found after they made a hole in the trailer.

The ages and point of origin of those discovered is currently unknown.

It comes less than a month after a separate incident in which the bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals were discovered in a lorry in Grays, Essex.

Mr Jakobsen added police were waiting at the port and the migrants were taken to hospital by ambulance to check for hypothermia.

“We don’t know about the checks. Of course, they were not in a very good condition,” he said.

“Unfortunately this is not the first time we have had such a situation. Of course, it’s rare they hide in a refrigerated trailer.

“But we do find migrants even though we try to prevent it.”

Search dogs were deployed to scan the rest of the vessel for remaining persons, but none were found according to the Rijnmondveilig alert system.