Twenty-four Eritrean migrants have been found in the back of a refrigerated yoghurt lorry in Kent after they were heard knocking and pleading for oxygen.

They were discovered in Menzies Road, in Whitfield, near Dover at 11:50 BST by local garage owner Andy Groombridge.

“You could hear people screaming and saying ‘oxygen’, so I made a decision to cut the tab off and open it. There was quite a few of them,” he said.

One man was arrested on suspicion of “facilitation offences”, police said.

Ambulance crews at the scene said none of the suspected illegal immigrants needed hospital treatment.

A Port of Dover spokesman said the matter had been passed to Kent Police and the Border Force.

Motorhome stowaways

It is the latest in a series of incidents in the county this month where migrants have been discovered.

Earlier this week, five people were found in a truck on a P&O ferry, and seven were found in the back of a lorry in Paddock Wood.

Other suspected illegal immigrants have also been found walking along the M20 near the Channel Tunnel, and clinging to the underneath of motorhomes.

On 4 September, a woman from Shepherdswell discovered a migrant in the back of her car after returning from France via the Eurotunnel.

In August, 13 suspected illegal immigrants were found in the back of a lorry at the Dartford Crossing.

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Source: BBC, Sept. 19, 2014.