‘Infants’ with hypothermia found in refrigerated truck searched at Calais

TWO lorry drivers were in custody in France last night after eight Afghans – including four children, two of which were said to be ‘tiny infants’ – were found with hypothermia in their truck.

The arrests of the two Romanians were made in Calais at 5am yesterday as the men attempted to drive on to a ferry heading to England.

An investigating source said: ‘[The eight Afghans] were suffering from mild hypothermia. It would have got far worse if they had remained in place, but they were taken to hospital... It was British border force guards who discovered the migrants, and they called the French authorities to make the arrests.’

French prosecutors confirmed the arrests, and said the temperature in the back of the refrigerated truck was around 7C.

The identities of the lorry drivers and those on board have not been released. But two of the Afghans were ‘tiny infants’, the source said. Separately, a driver was quizzed by officials yesterday after 13 men were freed from the back of his lorry in Dover on Thursday.

‘The men were obviously very alarmed for their safety and were banging furiously on the side of the container to be let out,’ said a witness, who did not want to be named. A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The males, including two minors, presented as Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian nationals.’ The driver, a Bulgarian national, was arrested.