68 migrants found locked in containers at UK port

68 migrants found locked in containers at U.K. port 02:13

 

London (CNN)UK border agents found 68 people, including 15 children, locked in containers aboard four trucks that had arrived from the Netherlands at a port in Essex, UK authorities said Friday.

The discovery was made when the trucks were searched at Harwich International Port, northeast of London, late Thursday, a UK Home Office spokesman said.

All 68 are now in the hands of the UK Border Force, which is part of the Home Office.

Seven were taken to a nearby hospital with abdominal and chest pains. These weren't considered life-threatening. Two pregnant women were among them, the East of England Ambulance Service told CNN. They've since been discharged from the hospital.

Those found are 35 Afghans, 22 Chinese, 10 Vietnamese and one Russian.

Four Polish nationals who were driving the trucks "have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration" and are undergoing questioning by the Home Office's criminal investigations team, the spokesman said.

CNN's Lucy Pawle contributed to this report.