A leading support group for migrants’ rights has praised emergency authorities for prioritising the health of the 35 Tilbury container stowaways.

Ilford Recorder: A police car arrives at the main entrance to Tilbury Docks in Essex, where a shipping container was found with illegal immigrants inside with one dead and the rest ill and taken to hospital.A police car arrives at the main entrance to Tilbury Docks in Essex, where a shipping container was found with illegal immigrants inside with one dead and the rest ill and taken to hospital. (Image: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Last weekend, men, women and 15 children aged as young as one, believed to be Afghan Sikhs, were rescued from a commercial container at Tilbury docks in Essex.

One man, believed to be 40, lost his life on the journey but a post mortem has proved inconclusive in trying to discover exactly how he died.

Rita Chadha, of Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London, is a vocal supporter for migrants in this country.

The forum, in High Road, Ilford, was set up in 1992 to assist asylum seekers in this country.

Ms Chadha, RAMFEL’s chief executive, said: “The authorities have prioritised the health concerns of the migrants.

“It is less common for migrants to come in this way [via a container] but I have not heard of a group that big - that is pretty shocking.”

The group are now claiming asylum in England.

Ms Chadha added: “These people are claiming asylum because they are in fear of their homeland.

“These individuals may not have known the UK was their intended destination.”