France: Six migrant women trapped in lorry rescued after distress texts to reporter

Six migrant women have been rescued from the back of a refrigerated lorry in France after they text-messaged a BBC reporter - setting off a desperate cross-border search.

Four Vietnamese and two Iraqi women were aboard the lorry, having spent more than 10 hours in a cramped space, surrounded by boxes of bananas, hoping to make it to UK or Ireland, when they realised the lorry was heading in the opposite direction.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

According to the women, the lorry doors had been sealed shut with an iron bar, meaning they were trapped inside. Desperate and running out of clean air to breathe, it was a race against time for the women.

Watch | Gravitas: Essex Lorry Mystery: Who Were The 39Migrants Victims That Died?

At around midday on Wednesday (Sep 27), Luu received a text on her phone which read: "There are some people who crossed the border from France to England in a refrigerated van."

Before she could answer, a call came in and a panicked voice asked her: "Are you in Europe? Please help, it's urgent."

The voice on the call was of a male and Luu was unable to recognise him. However, she understood that it was someone who knew her from when she covered the 2019 Essex lorry deaths.

Authorities track the lorry

Although the man was unable to provide proper details about the location of the lorry, he put one of the women in contact with the reporter.

“It’s so cold, it [the cooler] keeps blowing,” one of the migrants told Luu over text, before sending two short videos showing the cramped space and the few dozen centimetres of floor space where the women could sit.

After some communication, the texter was able to share her live GPS location, allowing the reporter to determine that the lorry was on the E15 highway near Dracé, north of Lyon.

Luu then contacted a colleague in France and asked them to contact the closest police station.

"We're so suffocated," came another message from the women, as the authorities attempted to track the lorry.

The BBC reporter assured the women that they would be saved and told them to keep calm and avoid talking in order to save air.

Soon afterwards the French police said they managed to intercept the lorry. The driver was arrested and preliminary investigation revealed that the vehicle was from Lithuania and one of the rescued women was a minor. Agencies are now probing the human trafficking angle.

The incident brought horror memories of the 2019 Essex lorry death where 39 Vietnamese migrants lost their lives while attempting to cross the border.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: