Thirteen freezing UK-bound migrants have been rescued in northern France after locking themselves inside a refrigerated lorry heading for London.

The drama unfolded on Saturday morning when the Eritreans – many of them minors – broke into the truck at the Saint-Hilaire-Cottes rest area on the A26 motorway, 45 miles from Calais.

They forced open the back door, and then climbed inside, while the driver was sleeping.

He was carrying cherry tomatoes from Morocco to England, and was exhausted after his long drive.

Within a few hours, the Eritreans were struggling with the extreme cold, but had locked themselves in.

‘Another driver who was in the rest area heard banging inside the truck early on Saturday afternoon,’ said an investigating source.

‘The people inside were desperate by this time – they were shouting and screaming, but all the sounds were extremely muffled.’

Emergency services including paramedics arrived on the scene at around 3pm on Saturday, together with 10 gendarmes.

All of those in the lorry were initially evacuated to a field hospital, and then four were rushed to emergency wards in Arras and Saint-Omer, suffering from a range of conditions, including hypothermia.

Adult member of the groups were later interrogated by police, while the minors were taken into the care of social services officials, and a charity that specialises in migrant minors.

In 2019, 39 Vietnamese nationals – eight women and 31 males, including two boys – were found dead in a refrigerated lorry in Grays, Essex.

The trailer they were in and had been shipped from Zeebrugge, Belgium, to Purfleet, Essex.

Eleven defendants were later convicted of crimes related to the deaths in the UK, while a further 19 were imprisoned in Belgium.

And in 2000, 58 Chinese migrants were found dead inside a Dutch truck in Dover.

The vehicle had transported its human cargo across the English Channel from Belgium.

The driver of the lorry was later sentenced to 14 years in prison for manslaughter, and for playing a part in an organised people smuggling gang.

Nine Chinese men were also jailed in Hollande for the part they played in causing the 58 deaths.

Small boats are mainly used to transport migrants across the Channel to England, but many attempts are still being made to smuggle them inside lorries.