Suspected illegal immigrants trapped inside a refrigerated lorry trailer raise the alarm by throwing oranges out of a hole in its side
- Motorists spotted fruit thrown from a small hole in the refrigerated lorry trailer
- Officers carried out a raid on the lorry where they discovered eight people
- A man has since been arrested on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration
A group of eight suspected illegal immigrants trapped inside a refrigerated lorry trailer after they raised the alarm by chucking oranges out of a hole in its side.
Stunned motorists spotted the fruit being flung from a small hole in the trailer as the lorry became stuck in a traffic jam on the A14 near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Emergency services including an air ambulance rushed to the scene and three of the eight people found in the lorry were taken to hospital.
Police on the way to a crash were alerted to their plight when they saw fresh fruit being thrown from a hole in the HGV.
Officers carried out a raid on the lorry where they discovered eight people in the back of the refrigerated vehicle
Stunned motorists spotted the fruit being flung from a small hole in the trailer, pictured, as the lorry became stuck in a traffic jam on the A14 near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire
Officers carried out a raid on the lorry where they discovered eight people in the back of the refrigerated vehicle.
A man has since been arrested on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration.
The MAGPAS air ambulance was called to the scene shortly before 12:30 pm after receiving reports that one individual was seriously unwell.
All eight people were assessed at the roadside and three people were taken to Hinchingbrooke Hospital by land ambulance for further investigation.
No one sustained life-threatening injuries.
A spokeswoman for the police force said: ‘We were called at just after noon on November 19 to reports of concerns for eight people travelling in a lorry on the A14.
All eight people were assessed at the roadside and three people were taken to Hinchingbrooke Hospital by land ambulance for further investigation. An air ambulance also attended the scene
‘Officers stopped the vehicle near Brampton Hut.
‘The air ambulance attended the scene and the road has been closed while emergency services deal.
‘Three people are being taken to hospital but no one is believed to be seriously injured.
‘A man has been arrested in suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration.
‘Immigration services have been notified.
‘Enquiries continue.’
East Anglian Ambulance Service, a hazardous area response team also attended the scene.
The discovery comes after police last month found the bodies of 39 Vietnamese migrants in Grays, Essex (pictured, officers at the scene)
It follows the discovery of 39 bodies in the back of a refrigerated lorry in Grays, Essex, last month.
The victims were Vietnamese migrants and the vehicle’s driver, Maurice Robinson, faces charges of manslaughter relating to each one.
Police are still searching for Ronan Hughes and 34-year-old brother Christopher Hughes.
And Eamon Harrison, 22, from Mayobridge in County Down, faced Dublin’s High Court over a European Arrest Warrant to have him extradited to Britain.
He is accused of delivering the trailer in which the migrants were found to Zeebrugge port in Belgium before it hit the UK.