From the archives: Police stop a refrigerated lorry where a migrant tried to hide | Pasquale Claudio Montana Lampo / ANSA
From the archives: Police stop a refrigerated lorry where a migrant tried to hide | Pasquale Claudio Montana Lampo / ANSA

Italian police have found eight migrants inside a refrigerated part of a truck in southern Italy. They were reportedly in good health. In a separate discovery, a migrant was found hiding under a truck.

On Friday (November 13), eight migrants of non-EU origin including three minors and one woman were discovered inside the refrigerated compartment of a lorry that was transiting through Italy's southern Campania region near Naples.

The vehicle had come from Bulgaria and arrived in Italy via Greece. The incident is one of several of the same kind in just over two months. The eight people, including three Syrian minors and one woman were found in good condition.

'Strange noises'

According to initial statements, the Bulgarian lorry driver realized there were people in his vehicle after hearing "strange" noises. He stopped along a state highway and found the eight people in the refrigerated compartment of the truck.

However, the authorities did not believe the man's story and arrested him on charges of human trafficking. Police, including members of the Carabinieri force, and an ambulance were called to the scene.

First aid was given to four men from Afghanistan, an Iranian woman and three Syrian minors aged between 15 and 17 years.

All the eight people were transferred to the local Carabinieri headquarters in Benevento for identification procedures and to be tested for COVID-19. All eight migrants tested negative.

Migrant found under truck

Friday's incident was the third of its kind in the area in just over two months. Investigators say that it may be a common, planned "route" used by undocumented migrants attempting to cross the Benevento province. The Benevento prosecutor's office has begun an investigation into the matter.

In a fourth incident on Sunday, another migrant was found hidden under a truck which he had traveled on for hours. When the truck stopped at a traffic light, the exhausted man began to pound on the metal, attracting the attention of the truck driver and a car driver nearby.

The driver then stopped and the two men found the migrant, who was holding onto the cables and engine of the truck. The freezing, exhausted man, who is in his early thirties and possibly of Afghan origin, was helped out of his dangerous hiding place by the driver.

At the time of the incident, the truck was carrying fruit and vegetables from Greece to Tuscany.

Carabinieri were called to the scene and took him in for identification procedures. He will also be tested for COVID-19.

 

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