Channel crossings: Eighteen migrants found in lorry on Dover ferry

The group was discovered in a lorry when it arrived at the Port of Dover

Eighteen migrants have been found inside a lorry on a ferry at the Port of Dover.

The group was found when the DFDS Seaways vessel Cote des Dunes arrived from Calais at Tuesday lunchtime.

Nine were taken to hospital as a precaution, while the other nine were handed over to the Border Force.

It came on the same day ministers unveiled an overhaul of asylum rules in an effort to deter migrants crossing the English Channel.

A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) said it had been called "following reports of a number of people in need of medical attention".

Kent Police confirmed they were alerted shortly before mid-day to assist Home Office immigration enforcement.

The Cote des Dunes has now returned to service.

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