No punishment can make good the deaths of so many victims and alleviate the suffering of their relatives

Judge Jos Silvis

A court in the city of Rotterdam found the seven defendants guilty of gross negligence over the deaths, but cleared them of manslaughter.

The judge said no punishment could make good the deaths of so many victims, or alleviate the suffering of their relatives.

"Smugglers abuse the desperate situation these people are in and abuse those people's dependence on them," added the judge, Jos Silvis.

Final moments

He said there had been no intention to kill the migrants, but placing them in a small container with no supplies had been "inhuman".

The 58 young men and women were hidden in the lorry behind crates of tomatoes.

The only air vent was closed, and they were left to suffocate one by one, despite frantic attempts to break out. Some held hands as they waited for death.

Police say the same gang smuggled other migrants into the UK

Nine people went on trial in Rotterdam, accused of organising the journey.

Eight were accused of manslaughter, belonging to a criminal organisation involved in trafficking illegal immigrants and forgery.

One of the eight was acquitted of all charges, along with the ninth person, who had been accused only of forgery.

The two ringleaders were Turkish-born criminals, Gursel Ozcan and Hacir Demi. Their accomplices received sentences of between 30 months and seven years.

Smugglers' route

The prosecution at the Rotterdam court had requested prison sentences ranging from six months to 20 years.

The defence argued that the authorities were partly responsible, because they had known about the trip but had not intervened because of an ongoing British investigation.

The immigrants were being smuggled by ferry from Rotterdam, via Zeebrugge, to Dover when they suffocated.

Perry Wacker: Jailed for 14 years

The Dutch truck driver, Perry Wacker, was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a British court last month after being convicted of manslaughter.

Translator Ying Guo, 33, was also jailed for six years, for conspiring to smuggle illegal migrants into Britain.

The Dutch court heard that the same gang had organised at least three other crossings to the UK in the six months leading up to the tragedy.

The 58 victims - and two other migrants who survived - had travelled 12,000km (8,000 miles) from China's Fujian province after paying thousands of pounds to the notorious Snakehead gangs.

The migrants were handed over to Dutch and Turkish criminals operating in the Netherlands, before crossing the Channel to the UK.