POLICE arrested four people on Thursday night after the discovery of 68 illegal immigrants on lorries that had arrived from the Netherlands.

The stowaways — 35 Afghans, 22 Chinese, 10 people from Vietnam and one Russian — were found on a ferry at Harwich International Port in Essex during a search by Border Force officials.

Two pregnant women were among seven people taken to Colchester General Hospital after the discovery at around 10pm.

An ambulance service spokesman said: “The patients who were taken to hospital were suffering from abdominal and chest pains and were feeling faint.

“None are in a life-threatening or serious condition.”

The drivers of the four lorries, believed to be Polish nationals, were arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration.

Police said they had been contacted by the ambulance service about the discovery on a ship from the Hook of Holland.

“Essex Police made contact with staff at Border Force, who were already in attendance, and they are taking the lead as the incident relates to immigration offences,” said a spokesman.

“We are continuing to liaise with Border Force while their inquiries continue.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We can confirm Border Force officers discovered 53 adults and 15 children during a proactive search of four lorries which had arrived at Harwich port from Holland on Thursday evening.”

Following a search at the same port in February last year, two men plunged to their deaths after jumping from a ship in an attempt to swim ashore.

Artur Doda, 24, and Leonard Isufaj, 27, both Albanian nationals, leapt overboard from a Stena Britannica ferry when it was about 1,600ft from dry land.