Lorry, which had travelled from Calais, was stopped at Watford Gap services after people were heard banging and calling for help

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A three-week-old baby was among a group of 10 people discovered in the back of a lorry at a motorway service station on Tuesday.

The Sun reported that the group, mostly from Iraq, had travelled from Calais and spent 10 hours in the Spanish-registered lorry.

The alarm was raised at Watford Gap services on the M1 in Northamptonshire after people could be heard banging from inside the vehicle and shouting “no air”.

Police who opened the lorry’s doors found the group struggling to breathe in the stifling heat along with the infant. A toddler was also among the group.

Richard Glover from Wellingborough told the Sun: “I could see no food or water in the lorry. It had been a muggy night and it was a warm day, so conditions would have been stifling. They could all have suffocated in there – including the baby.”

A Home Office spokesperson said the incident was concerning and was being investigated: “Would-be migrants need to be aware that they are putting their lives, and those of their loved ones, at risk by attempting to reach the UK illegally.

“That is why we have increased security and boosted technology used at border controls and are working with law enforcement at home and abroad to target the criminal gangs who are often behind such attempts.”

The Home Office said Northamptonshire police had alerted immigration enforcement officers. Nine of the migrants said they were from Iraq, with another from Iran.

They all had medical checks and the infant was said to be healthy.

According to the Sun, the parents of the infant paid a people-smuggler to travel from Turkey to Greece before making their way to France. Their six-year-old son, who was not travelling with them, reportedly drowned when the boat he was in sank, killing a further 21 people.

The baby was born last month in “the Jungle” refugee camp that is home to about 10,000 people. It sparked protests from Calais residents earlier this week who want it to be shut down.

Immigration minister Robert Goodwill told MPs on Tuesday that work was about to begin on a four-metre high wall in Calais in the latest attempt to prevent refugees and migrants getting on to lorries heading for the Channel port.

It will be part of a £17m package of joint Anglo-French security measures to tighten precautions at the port. Construction of the 1km-long wall along the ferry port’s main dual carriageway approach road, known as the Rocade, is due to start this month.