Syrian refugee says 'I can hear them screaming to death' as he relives lorry ordeal

A SYRIAN refugee has relived his ordeal of almost freezing to death in the back of a refrigerated lorry following the discovery of 39 bodies in a container in Essex yesterday.

Ahmad Al-Rashid made the perilous 55 day journey from Aleppo to London in 2015 and described how the "smell of death" was "impossible to forget".

Mr Al-Rashid said the grim news from Essex brought back memories of his own terrifying ordeal four years ago.

He said: "I was in the back of a couple of refrigerated lorries in 2015 with frozen chicken and meat.

"In one of the incidents I was kept there for two hours, it was freezing cold…people started coughing and freezing…so we started to knock and knock and knock.

"You are at the mercy of the smugglers to come and get you out because it's all locked from outside."

Writing on Twitter he added: "The screams of those people still haunt me.

"I can never forget the eyes of those who were with me on that tanker with no air, no light, nothing but the smell of death.

"It's impossible to forget it. I can hear them screaming to death because I was there.

"I can feel them clinging onto life but in vain. I just realised how lucky I am to be alive."

'DESPERATE'

The Syrian refugee, an English literature graduate, said people are prepared to make such dangerous journeys because they are "desperate".

Arsenal fan Mr Al-Rashid, who fled war-torn Syria, said: "People don't choose death willingly. People don't put their lives in danger for no reason or purpose.

"You won't do this unless you have no option. When I left Syria it was a dreadful situation…you look for places of safety when your children could grow up and where there will be a future for them."

When he saw the grim news from Essex, Mr Al-Rashid said his first thought was for their families and loved ones.

He said: "It's a tragic, tragic incident. It's heartbreaking.

"These are humans with lives, dreams, hopes, fears and aspirations."

Another refugee Gulwali Passarlay, from Afghanistan, made the last leg of his journey from Calais to the UK in the back of a refrigerated lorry.

He said: "It's very hard to get the drivers' attention if something goes wrong because it's a very confined space.

"If the driver had put on the freezer we would have been killed on the last leg of our journey. It brings back memories. It's very upsetting."

He added: "The government needs to change its hostile policies and show compassion and humanity."

Experts said the 39 victims in Essex had "little or no chance" of surviving the freezing temperatures in the trailer.

The National Crime Agency is looking at any links to trafficking gangs.

Their bodies were found inside the refrigerated trailer parked up at an industrial estate in Grays.

One of Britain's biggest murder investigations is now under way as lorry driver Mo Robinson, 25, from Northern Ireland, is quizzed by police.

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