A Dutch ferry crew found 25 migrants in a refrigerated container on a boat sailing to Britain on Tuesday. The Dutch crew forced the vessel to return to port in the Netherlands. The stowaways received medical attention at the port of Vlaardingen, near Rotterdam, with two being transferred to hospital for more care.

According to the police, the 25 people were taken off the ship and given the medical care they need. Police said that earlier the message came from the ship that no people died. Police dogs were searching the ship, which was originally bound for the British port of Felixstowe, to check that no more migrants were on board.

The boat was a cargo ferry run by the DFDS Seaways line, which said that the migrants had come on board on a lorry trailer. The discovery comes the month after 39 Vietnamese people were found dead in a refrigerated truck in Britain last week, again laying bare the risks of illegal migrant routes to Europe.