Border police at IJmuiden port have found 16 people hiding in the back of a lorry  including four children.

The 11 men, one woman and four youngsters, one said to be clutching a teddy bear, were found in the lorry on Wednesday and removed as locals and port workers watched.

‘I have never seen anything like it, it is so sad this is happening,’ one eyewitness told local news website NH Nieuws.

The driver of the lorry, a 45-year-old Turkish national, has been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking. The group of stowaways had different nationalities, NH Nieuws said.

The lorry had been due to take the daily crossing to Newcastle. Some 50 people have been caught trying to make that journey this year.