More than 120 people, most believed to be from Syria, were found on Saturday in a refrigerated truck trying to cross the Bulgarian border with Turkey, Bulgaria’s interior ministry said.

A ministry spokeswoman said 38 men, 33 women and 58 children were found hidden behind bottles of sparkling water at the border crossing of Kapitan Andreevo, but their state of health was not a cause for concern.

The lorry driver has been arrested.

In August 71 people were found to have died in a refrigerated lorry designed to carry frozen food after traffickers abandoned the vehicle in Austria.

EU member Bulgaria has been making about 100 arrests a day of people seeking to transit the country clandestinely to avoid being sent to camps, pending an outcome to their asylum requests.

To date, the country has avoided the mass influx seen by neighbouring Greece, which thousands of refugees have sought to reach in perilous crossings by sea.

Bulgarian authorities, nonetheless, fear increased arrivals in the lead-up to winter.

Police on Saturday made checks of about 6,000 vehicles and arrested 16 suspected traffickers as well as 495 people nationwide.