MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The migrants were found in the village of Vivonne on the outskirts of the town of Poitiers inside a truck registered in Lithuania, according to the regional Centre Presse publication.
The 11 Iraqi and Syrian nationals were able to avoid dehydration with water bottles stocked inside the truck’s cargo hold and were reported to be in overall good health.
Other media cited the prosecutor of Poitiers as saying eight of the migrants were Syrians and three Iraqi, although it was unclear what nationalities were the three children. The driver was reportedly a Russian national who notified authorities after hearing noises at the back of the truck.
The discovery follows last month’s incident where 71 decomposing bodies of mostly Syrian migrants were found in an abandoned truck on an Austrian highway, drawing attention to the issue of human trafficking.
