Eight suspected illegal immigrants including two children were rushed to hospital with breathing difficulties today after being discovered comatose in a tanker truck carrying chemicals from Germany.
A specialist team including an air ambulance was deployed to the scene after the stowaways were discovered when the lorry driver was pulled over in a South London underpass at around 8am today.
Workmen laying water pipes nearby had heard banging from inside the tank and stopped the driver, who was reportedly wearing earplugs. The occupants were pulled to safety through a hatch on the top and were treated with oxygen before being taken to hospital.
The 55-year-old was later arrested on suspicion of people-trafficking while the eight stowaways - one woman, five men and two boys aged 12 and 16 all thought to be from Eritrea - were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences after receiving hospital treatment. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said that all eight were being held in police stations across London.
The Metropolitan Police, who immediately set up a 100-metre cordon around the tanker, said that the eight appeared to have been overcome by gas from the cargo, a powdered carbon-based chemical. Witnesses reported a strong chemical odour similar to that of barbecue fire lighters.
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Parts of the dual carriageway, also known as the A2041, were closed while fire brigade officers checked the tanker to determine exactly what chemicals were involved. The vehicle was later removed for further examinations.
Witnesses to the unfolding drama, which took place underneath a flyover at Harrow Manorway, close to Abbeywood railway station, spoke of their horror at seeing limp bodies pulled from the tanker.
Lorraine Johnson, 57, who watched events from outside her house nearby, said: “They climbed on top of the vehicle and the ambulance turned up and they were just pulling out these people,” she said.
“There were eight or nine of them, all laid out over there. Then the helicopter landed and they were just taking them one by one.”
“The police kept saying ’Go inside, go inside’.”
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She continued: “I thought they were all dead, they were just limp... they were just pulling them up, four of them, one on each leg, one on each arm, pulling them out.”
Pete Hobbs, 19, was one of the team of workmen who heard the stowaways banging on the sides of the tanker. He said: “They were all covered in black stuff, whatever was in the lorry was all over them.
“They weren’t bleeding or anything, it looked like they were burnt but I think it was like soot.”
A hazardous area response team attended the scene along with an air ambulance, four ambulances and a fast response car, a spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service said.
The tanker is owned by H Freund, a German company with offices in Frechen, west Germany, and Runcorn, Cheshire. The company said it was liaising with the Metropolitan Police over the circumstances of the incident.