'I cannot breathe': Essex migrants discovered dead in container called family for help

The UK Central Criminal Court heard how the migrants  suffocated in temperatures of up to 38.5C (101.3F) in the pitch dark interior. Picture: Nick Ansell/PA

There were calls of “open up, open up” as 39 Vietnamese people struggled to breathe inside a sealed container bound for Britain, a court in the UK has heard.

On October 23 last year, the men, women and children, aged 15 to 44, were found dead in the trailer after it was transported from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Purfleet in Essex.