Panicked women beg for help as they're left locked in lorry and can't breathe

29 September 2023 , 07:17

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The unnamed woman sent the BBC two short videos of the cramped space (Image: bbc.co.uk)

Six women have been rescued from the back of a refrigerated lorry after they sent a distressed rescue message to a journalist.

Four Vietnamese and two Iraqi women spent more than 10 hours in the cramped, freezing truck, surrounded by food in the hope of reaching the UK or Ireland, according to the BBC. The women somehow caught wind that the lorry was heading in the opposite direction and they began to panic.

One of the women managed to reach a BBC reporter in London. Khue B Luu felt her phone buzz and saw the message: "There are some people who crossed the border from France to England in a refrigerated van." Before she could finish reading the message, a call came in: "Are you in Europe? Please help, it's urgent."

They were surrounded by banana boxes on the truck (bbc.co.uk)

The six women were cramped in the lorry and started not being able to breathe (bbc.co.uk)

She said the lorry doors had been sealed with an iron bar, meaning the women were trapped. The unnamed woman sent Luu two short videos showing a space crammed with boxes. In one video, a woman could be heard saying in English: "I can’t breathe." Along with the videos she sent a live GPS location, showing they were on the E15 highway near Dracé, north of Lyon.

The BBC then helped to contact the police station closest to the lorry’s location. But Luu suddenly realised the location sharing had been interrupted, even though she was still texting her. She said it was getting harder to breathe as the air conditioner had been turned off. One text said: "We’re so suffocated." Luu said she felt "cold all over" as the tragic story of 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead after suffocating in a lorry trailer back in 2019 in Essex was in her mind.

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She wrote: "Why, after the tragedy of 39 deaths in Essex in 2019, are there still young women from Vietnam getting into the back of a lorry to cross the border? I can't find any definitive answer."

Three more people were supposed to get in the van but pulled out last minute, but luckily one of them had taken a photo of the number plate. Soon the French police managed to intercept the lorry. The driver was arrested and an investigation has been launched amid suspicions of human trafficking.

Luu texted the lady but hasn't heard from her since. She knew the four Vietnamese people say they got in the lorry with the promise of being taken safely to England. Hours later, a French prosecutor said the vehicle was from Lithuania and the driver was under investigation. The six women rescued from the lorry included one minor, the prosecutor said.

Rachel Hagan