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 very cold and were panicking.The woman was unable to make calls from inside the lorry. It's not clear to me why not, but it may have been down to the type of Sim card she was using.

Without much time to think, I contacted colleagues from BBC News and reporters living in France. At the same time, a reporter for the French newspaper Le Monde in London was also informed and he immediately alerted his colleague at the Paris editorial office that specialised in immigration.The woman was able to share her live GPS location with me, from which I saw the lorry was on the E15 highway, near Dracé, north of Lyon.Stuck in the narrow space I saw in the short video clip, I feared they wouldn't have much time to hold out.

I didn't know who the caller was, but believed he knew me from when I covered the Essex lorry deaths, as a lot of Vietnamese people approached me that time.I asked the caller a few questions, but quickly became frustrated at not being able to get the information I needed.This is what I learnt - there was a group of about six people hiding in the lorrySix women have been rescued from the back of a lorry in France, after the BBC helped track them down and alert the police.