BRUSSELS: Twelve migrants — 11 Syrians and a Sudanese, all men — have been found alive in a refrigerated truck in Belgium transporting fruit and vegetables, police 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 truck parked east of London.

The Belgium human cargo was discovered on a road linking the city of Antwerp to the capital Brussels on Tuesday, a police spokeswoman said. All 12 were “in good health,” she said.

The driver of the truck contacted the police after suspecting he had stowaways in the back, and he was directed to pull over into a highway parking area.

A police investigation has been launched, notably to find out how the migrants got on board and whether they were seeking to get to Britain.

Several Vietnamese families fear their relatives were among the eight women and 31 men who died in the London case. The trailer they were in transited through Belgium.

Migrants and people-smugglers often use Belgium to try to reach Britain. In many cases, migrants try to sneak aboard trucks stopped in parking areas.

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

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2019