Migrants found in the back of a truck in a petrol station after hiding for TWO WEEKS
The Polish driver made an emergency stop at a garage in Bristol after he heard knocking coming from the back of his lorry
A GROUP of Iraqi migrants including a baby were discovered alive in the back of a lorry - where they had been hidden for TWO WEEKS.
The Polish driver made an emergency stop at a garage in Bristol after he heard knocking coming from the back of his refrigerated lorry.
He managed to get staff at the Shell petrol station to call the emergency services using an online translation website, and police found seven migrants today.
Garage cashier Andrei Bitculescu, 26, said the group were running low on food and water but thankfully the refrigeration system had been switched off.
He said: "The Polish lorry driver came in.
"He was clearly scared because he had heard knocking from the back of the van.
"He didn't speak any English, but we used Google Translate to work out he wanted us to call the police.
"When the police and ambulance crews arrived, they opened the lorry and found the people.
"They seemed ok but they had eaten pretty much all the food and drink that the lorry had been carrying.
"It was actually a refrigerated truck, but thankfully that hadn't been switched on.
"They were all Iraqi, and said they had been in the back of the lorry for two weeks - so must have travelled quite a way across Europe.
"It was really quite shocking - especially to see the children.
"One was a toddler, somewhere between two and four years old. Another was a very small baby, wrapped in a blanket."
The petrol station was closed for two hours while emergency services dealt with the incident.
A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police said: "We were called to Shell service station in Badminton Road, Downend, at just after 3.30pm on Saturday.
"A lorry driver had approached staff as he believed there were people in the back of his vehicle.
"On inspection, five adults and two children were found inside the lorry. They were checked over by paramedics at the scene.
"Three men were detained for immigration offences and taken into custody.
"The family were taken into the care of the local authority."
A spokeswoman for the South West Ambulance Service said three paramedics and an ambulance attended the scene.
She said: "All the patients were assessed at the scene but no one needed hospital treatment."
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