Twelve men – 11 Syrians and a Sudanese – discovered on road linking Antwerp to Brussels, police say.

Belgian police have found 12 men from Syria and Sudan alive in a refrigerated lorry at a motorway parking area in the north of the country.

The 11 Syrians and a Sudanese were discovered after the driver of the vehicle, which was transporting fruit and vegetables, suspected he had stowaways in the back, a police spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The discovery came as British police investigate the deaths of 39 people whose bodies were found a week ago in another refrigerated lorry parked east of London.

The Belgium human cargo was discovered on Tuesday on a road linking the city of Antwerp to the capital, Brussels, the police spokeswoman told the AFP news agency.

All 12 were “in good health”, she said.

Police have launched an investigation, seeking to determine how the 12 people got on board and whether they were seeking to get to the United Kingdom.

Last weekend, Belgian authorities said they had found two more trucks carrying 20 people, all alive.