Eleven refugees from Iraq and Iran, including two children, have been found sitting in between boxes of mangoes in the back of a refrigerated lorry on the A67 near Bladel in Noord-Brabant.

The refugees were spotted when a driver noticed someone waving a white flag out of a ventilation grill and managed to alert the driver, local newspaper Eindhovens Dagblad said. It is as yet unclear how long the group had been in the lorry.

The Portuguese driver and his wife reportedly began their journey to Britain on Friday and stopped overnight in Tours in France. Then the seal on the back of the lorry was intact, the paper said.

The driver parked at a petrol station and called the police who broke open the seal and found the refugees. They were given on-the-spot medical checks before being handed over to the immigration service.

The driver and his wife were held for questioning and later released after police said they did not know about the refugees.

26-08-17 – Zuidoost – Elf verstekelingen aangetroffen in Portugese koelwagen langs A67 bij Bladel https://t.co/C5gfbqkxLI

— 112 Brabant.nl (@112brabant) August 26, 2017