Europe migrant crisis: 15 freezing migrants saved from refrigerated truck in France

A blind search by emergency services triggered by a call from one of the trapped men led to their discovery.

Lille, France: Fifteen migrants suffering from hypothermia were found alive in the back of a refrigerated lorry in northern France after a blind search by emergency services triggered by a call from one of the trapped men.

The authorities said they received a "strange call" around 0800 GMT from "a man speaking English in a barely audible voice, who seemed to be suffocating, and did not know where he was".

They were unable to trace the call because the phone was using a foreign SIM card, but after lengthy exchanges they figured out the lorry was somewhere on the highway between Paris and Lille.

The operator who took the call could also hear others in the background.