Horrifying footage showing steam rising from the container in which dozens of Vietnamese migrants suffocated to death at temperatures above 100 degrees has been shown to a jury.
Trucker Maurice Robinson, 26, can be seen approaching the rear right hand door of his lorry and opening it.
As he slowly eases the door open steam from the bodies of the deceased gushes out and he steps back.
Robinson had pulled up at Eastern Avenue, Grays, Essex, at 1.13am on 23 October having picked the lorry up from Purfleet.
It was only after 23 minutes that Robinson phoned the police in a panic.
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones said Robinson made two calls to haulier Ronan Hughes who had earlier instructed him to ‘give them air quickly. Don’t let them out’.
Robinson dialled 999 at 1.36am.
Lorry driver Maurice Robinson (pictured), 26, has already admitted 39 counts of manslaughter
CCTV image issued by Essex Police of snapchat message from Ronan Hughes to Maurice Robinson, which was shown at the Old Bailey, London, shortly before he discovered bodies
The court was played an emergency call Robinson made in which he said: ‘They are all lying on the ground.’
The operator asked: ‘Are they breathing?’
Robinson: ‘No, I don’t think so. I heard a noise in the back, so I opened the door.’
Operator: ‘How many patients?’
Robinson: ‘About 25.’
Operator: ‘And they’re not breathing?’
Robinson: ‘No.’
Jurors were shown a screen grab from the phone of Robinson, who had collected the trailer from Purfleet port.
CCTV footage played to the jury showed large amounts of steam escaping from the back of the trailer when Robinson opened the doors shortly before he called the emergency services
The prosecutor said it was a photograph of a text exchange he had on Snapchat with someone with the user name RHughes301.
It read: ‘Give them air quickly. Don’t let them out.’ Robinson replied with a thumbs-up emoji, said the prosecutor.
Jurors were told the exchange happened sometime between midnight and 1.20am.
The Old Bailey has heard dying victims wrote desperate text messages to their families as the air ran out and the temperature rose to 101.3F.
Jurors were told the ferry MV Clementine left the Belgian port at 4pm UK time for a journey that lasted more than eight hours.
At 6.25pm, a young Vietnamese woman took a series of selfies on her phone showing the sweltering conditions inside.
Over the next couple of hours, occupants attempted to make phone calls, with one calling the emergency number for Vietnamese police, without success.
In a recorded message to his family, Nguyen Tho Tuan, 25, said: ‘I’m sorry. I cannot take care of you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I cannot breathe.
‘I want to come back to my family. Have a good life.’
In another mobile phone recording at 8.02pm, Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20, said: ‘I cannot breathe. I’m sorry, I have to go now.’
In the background, a voice could be heard saying: ‘Come on everyone. Open up, open up.’
In another phone recording two minutes later, the same victim said: ‘I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.’
A voice in the background then says: ‘He’s dead.’
Nguyen Huy Hung (left), 15, was the youngest, while Nguyen Dinh Lurong (right), 20, also died
Pham Tra My (left and right) 26, was among the 39 people who died in the lorry in Grays, Essex
Cargo operator Jason Rook said in a statement that he smelt a ‘decomposing smell’ as he unloaded the trailer.
The prosecutor said the temperature inside the trailer reached a maximum of 101.3F sometime after 9pm.
Jurors heard that between 10pm and 10.30pm the carbon dioxide (CO2) inside the trailer had reached its toxic threshold, though the prosecutor said that was not agreed evidence and the jury would hear from witnesses.
Eamonn Harrison, 23, from Mayobridge, County Down, allegedly drove the trailer to the Zeebrugge ferry port.
He denies 39 manslaughter charges and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
In October last year, men, women and children, aged 15 to 44, were found dead in the trailer
Eamonn Harrison (right), 23, of County Down, who had dropped the trailer off at Zeebrugge, has denied 39 counts of manslaughter along with alleged key organiser Gheorghe Nica (left), 43, of Basildon
Gheorghe Nica, 43, from Basildon, Essex, denies 39 manslaughter charges, but has admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Valentin Calota, 37, from Birmingham, and 23-year-old Christopher Kennedy, from Darkley, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, deny conspiracy to assist illegal immigration.
Robinson, of Craigavon, County Armagh, has admitted manslaughter, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.
Ronan Hughes, 40, from Leitrim, Silverstream, Tyholland, Co Monaghan, has admitted manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
The trial continues.