How distress call to BBC led to rescue of six women trapped in refrigerated lorry in France
The four Vietnamese and two Iraqis, thought to be migrants, were trapped inside, panicking and struggling to breathe. One of them spoke to the BBC from inside the lorry.The BBC then helped to contact the police, who stopped the lorry.They have also opened an investigation into a suspected human trafficking operation. At around midday on Wednesday, my phone screen lit up. It was a message that read: "There are some people who crossed the border from France to England in a refrigerated van."I felt cold all over. The tragic story of 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead after suffocating in a lorry trailer back in 2019 in Essex was still fresh in my mind. All I knew at this point, from what the caller had told me, was that the vehicle was in France, but seemed to have turned around and was no longer going towards its original destination - the border to England.I was told the six women were in the trunk of the lorry and that the air conditioning started to turn on. Those inside were