US News Dutch find 26 migrants alive stowed away on UK-bound ferry

© Reuters The trucks are seen as Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Stef Blok and Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag (not pictured) visit a ferry terminal to review that cargo can be transported quickly via Dutch ports after the Brexit in Vlaardingen, Netherlands March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

Authorities found 26 migrants stowed away on a cargo ferry bound for Britain shortly after it left the Netherlands on Tuesday and the vessel quickly returned to the Dutch port of Vlaardingen, Dutch emergency services said.

Police had no immediate word on the condition of the migrants, several of who whom were discovered in a refrigeration container. But a number of ambulances had arrived in the port where the migrants were returned abroad a Britannia Seaways ferry.

"Emergency services are reporting about 26 people," a statement posted on the local government website said. "Word from the ship is that no one died."

On Oct. 23, 39 bodies, all believed to be Vietnamese migrants, were discovered in the back of a refrigerated truck near London.

Two people have been charged in Britain and eight in Vietnam over the deaths.

The container in which the bodies were found had arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg Editing by Mark Heinrich)