There was also a lot of shouting and screaming but nobody came to help

Su Di Ke Lorry survivor

Chinese interpreter Ying Guo, 29, of South Woodford, Essex, denies conspiracy to smuggle immigrants into Britain.

Customs and Excise officers found 54 men and four women suffocated in the airtight lorry container of tomatoes on 18 June at Dover's eastern docks.

Su Di Ke, 20, told the court that people noticed the lorry's air vent was closed and started to get frightened three hours into their ferry crossing from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Lorries are searched daily for stowaways

"Some people removed tomatoes and wanted to kick open the doors," he said.

"There was also a lot of shouting and screaming but nobody came to help."

He fell unconscious during the panic, the court heard.

The young man said he left the Fujian province in southern China to make a better life for himself in the West.

He told the court that he was given false papers.

It was also alleged that he and his family were going to pay money to an organisation called The Snakeheads, an illegal Chinese-based gang that smuggles people out to the West.

On Wednesday the court heard the sum was about �20,000.

Tearful testimony

The second survivor, Ke Shi Guang, 22, also from Fujian province, told the court he had tried to help fellow passengers who were struggling to breathe.

The trial was adjourned as Mr Guang broke down into tears recalling the journey.

The 22-year-old said earlier he wanted to leave China as he lacked freedom to practise his Catholic religion.

Mr Guang said he had been told to call Miss Guo if arrested.

He said five or six hours into the journey from Rotterdam to England he saw a man's hand closing the air vent from outside.

Both Mr Guang and Mr Ke said once loaded in the container the group were only given four buckets of water between them to last the whole journey.

It was alleged that Mr Wacker, of Rotterdam, Holland, not only drove the lorry of immigrants to Dover, but helped plan the operation.

'Deeply involved'

He closed the air vents of his lorry's refrigerated container during a five-hour ferry crossing on a hot June day, the jury was told.

Mr Wacker and Ms Guo were involved to different degrees in a people smuggling network, said prosecutor Victor Temple QC.

Mr Temple said Mr Wacker was "deeply involved" selecting and buying the lorry and trailer.

"Wacker made no effort to check welfare of the Chinese, still less to open the vent," he told the court.

But Mr Wacker told police that he helped a friend buy the lorry, tractor and chassis, but not the refrigeration container.

The trial is expected to last six weeks.