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Essex Police: 39 bodies found in lorry container

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The bodies of 39 people have been found in a lorry container in Essex.

Police were called by the ambulance service shortly before 01:40 BST after the discovery at Waterglade Industrial Park in Eastern Avenue, Grays.

The lorry driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Essex Police said the lorry travelled from Bulgaria and entered the country via Holyhead, Anglesey, on Saturday.

Early indications are that 38 adults and one teenager have died, the force said.

Ch Supt Andrew Mariner said officers were trying to identify victims but anticipated a "lengthy process".

"We have arrested the lorry driver in connection with the incident, who remains in police custody as our inquiries continue," he said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "appalled by this tragic incident"

He said: "I am receiving regular updates and the Home Office will work closely with Essex Police as we establish exactly what has happened. My thoughts are with all those who lost their lives and their loved ones."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50150070
 
The bodies of 39 people have been found in a lorry container in Essex.

Police were called by the ambulance service shortly before 01:40 BST after the discovery at Waterglade Industrial Park in Eastern Avenue, Grays.

The lorry driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Essex Police said the vehicle travelled from Bulgaria and entered the UK via Holyhead, Anglesey, on Saturday.

Early indications are that 38 adults and one teenager have died, the force said. There were no survivors.

Essex lorry deaths: Latest updates

Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills said identifying the victims "remains our number one priority".

She appealed for anyone with information about the route the lorry may have taken, or anyone who had seen the vehicle or knew about its journey, to get in touch.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Prime Minister's Questions it was an "unimaginable tragedy and truly heartbreaking".

He said: "I know that the thoughts and prayers of all members will be with those who lost their lives and their loved ones. I'm receiving regular updates. The Home Office will work closely with Essex Police as we establish exactly what has happened."

'Contempt for human life'
Irish Premier Leo Varadkar told the Dail that the deaths were a "human tragedy", adding that investigations would be undertaken to establish if the lorry had passed through Ireland.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was "shocked and saddened by this utterly tragic incident", while Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price said it was "sickening news".

During PMQs, Ms Doyle-Price said: "To put 39 people into a locked metal container shows a contempt for human life that is evil. The best thing we can do in memory of those victims is to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice."

She also paid tribute to the emergency services, saying what they had witnessed would stay with them forever.

Seamus Leheny, Northern Ireland policy manager for the Freight Transport Association, said if the lorry had come from Bulgaria, getting into Britain via Holyhead was an "unorthodox route".

He said: "People have been saying that security and checks have been increased at places like Dover and Calais, so it might be seen as an easier way to get in by going from Cherbourg or Roscoff, over to Rosslare, then up the road to Dublin.

"It's a long way around and it'll add an extra day to the journey."

How many migrants have died in transit?
The number of migrants who die in transit has been recorded by the UN since 2014.

Since then, five bodies of suspected migrants have been found in lorries or containers in the UK:

2014: An Afghan migrant was found dead at Tilbury Docks, Essex. He was in a shipping container, with 34 Afghans who survived
2015: Two migrants were found dead in a wooden crate in a warehouse in Branston, Staffordshire. The crate had been sent from Italy
2016: An 18-year-old migrant was crushed while clinging to the underside of a lorry in Banbury, Oxfordshire
2016: A body was found in the back of a lorry in Kent, which had travelled from France
Data was not collected in the same way before the migrant crisis began in 2014, but such deaths are not new.

In 2000, 58 Chinese migrants were found suffocated to death in a lorry at Dover.

The National Crime Agency said it had sent officers to assist the investigation and identify any "organised crime groups who may have played a part". Ch Supt Andrew Mariner, from Essex Police, said he expected identifying the victims would be a "lengthy process".

A spokeswoman for Bulgarian police confirmed they were aware of the deaths.

At the scene:
BBC Essex reporter Peter Walker

It's quite chaotic here and the number of bystanders and reporters is continuing to grow.

The industrial estate is huge and has lots of multi-national companies. The nearest residential property must be about half a mile away.

Glen Freeland, from GSF Car Parts, which is close to where the bodies were found, said staff could not access their premises on Eastern Avenue.

"The manager went to get into work this morning and it was cordoned off and we've been moved to a different area," Mr Freeland said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50150070
 
The bodies of 39 people have been found in a lorry container in Essex.

The vehicle, registered in Bulgaria, was found shortly before 01:40 BST at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, police said.

Essex Police moved the lorry to a secure location so the bodies inside could be recovered.

The lorry driver, named locally as Mo Robinson, 25, from the Portadown area of County Armagh, Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Essex Police said the trailer arrived via ferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium, into Purfleet on the River Thames.

The ship docked in the Thurrock area shortly after 00:30, the force said.

It is believed the container and lorry then left the port together about 35 minutes later.

Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills said identifying the victims remained a "number one priority", but was expected to be a "lengthy process".

The National Crime Agency said it had sent officers to assist and identify any "organised crime groups who may have played a part".

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said the container appeared to be a refrigerated unit, where temperatures could be as low as -25C.

He described conditions for anyone inside as "absolutely horrendous".

A spokesman for the Bulgarian foreign affairs ministry confirmed the truck was registered in the country.

"The Scania truck was registered in Varna (on the east coast) under the name of a company owned by an Irish citizen," he said.

"Police said that it is highly unlikely that they are Bulgarians," he added.

Police have appealed for witnesses and anyone with information about the lorry's route to contact them.

The force said it believed the tractor unit - or front part - of the lorry had come from Northern Ireland.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was an "unimaginable tragedy and truly heartbreaking".

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, he said: "I know that the thoughts and prayers of all members will be with those who lost their lives and their loved ones.

"I'm receiving regular updates. The Home Office will work closely with Essex Police as we establish exactly what has happened."

'Contempt for life'
Home Secretary Priti Patel said she was "shocked and saddened", while Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price said it was "sickening news".

During PMQs, Ms Doyle-Price said: "To put 39 people into a locked metal container shows a contempt for human life that is evil. The best thing we can do in memory of those victims is to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice."

Mr Johnson responded saying "all such traders in human beings should be hunted down and brought to justice".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was an "unbelievable human tragedy", adding: "Can we just think for a moment of what it must have been like for those 39 people, obviously in a desperate and dangerous situation, for their lives to end, suffocated to death in a container?"

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told the Dail that investigations would be undertaken to establish if the lorry had passed through Ireland.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50150070
 
“There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolise. There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation.”
 
This is a human tragedy. No doubt.

However, why do people migrate like this? Why can't they come through proper channels? All these can be avoided.
 
sweep_shot said:
This is a human tragedy. No doubt.

However, why do people migrate like this? Why can't they come through proper channels? All these can be avoided.
Click to expand...

Look from their point of view, they made a decision that it was worth the risk to get away from where ever they where living and to get to Europe. It's easy for us to sit here and say take the legal route, but it's not that easy.
Sad part is we have more than enough resources in this world for everyone to live a comfortable life, but it's the greed of the few that's causing misery to many.
 
Police have begun the process of trying to identify 39 bodies found in a refrigerated lorry trailer in Essex.

The trailer arrived in Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge, Belgium, at about 00:30 BST.

Ambulance staff discovered the bodies in the unit just over an hour later at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays.

The lorry driver, named locally as Mo Robinson, 25, from Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, is being questioned by police.

Deputy Chief Constable of Essex Police Pippa Mills said the vehicle had been moved to a secure site at Tilbury Docks so the bodies of the 38 adults and one teenager could be "recovered while preserving the dignity of the victims".

She said identifying the deceased remained a "priority" but was expected to be a "lengthy process".

Meanwhile, officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland have carried out raids on two houses associated with the arrested man - one in Markethill, County Armagh, and another in nearby Laurelvale.

Police said the tractor unit (the front part of the lorry) came from Northern Ireland and picked up the trailer from Purfleet.

The tractor and trailer then left the port shortly after 01:05 and officers were called around 30 minutes later when ambulance staff made the grim discovery.

Police have appealed for witnesses and anyone with information about the lorry's route to contact them.

The National Crime Agency said it had sent officers to assist and identify any "organised crime groups who may have played a part".

A spokesman for the Bulgarian foreign affairs ministry said the truck was registered in the country under the name of a company owned by an Irish citizen.

He said it was "highly unlikely" the deceased were Bulgarians.

At the scene
By Ed Thomas, special correspondent, BBC News, Grays

Police officers bowed their heads in silence as the lorry was slowly moved from the industrial estate with all 39 people still inside the container.

I've seen senior detectives visibly upset at what they've witnessed here.

Detectives said their priority now was providing all the victims with dignity and respect as they try to identify them and inform their loved ones.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was an "unimaginable tragedy and truly heartbreaking".

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, he said: "I know that the thoughts and prayers of all members will be with those who lost their lives and their loved ones.

"I'm receiving regular updates. The Home Office will work closely with Essex Police as we establish exactly what has happened."

During Thurrock Council's full council meeting, councillor James Halden said the authority would put in place any support enforcement agencies needed.

The Conservative councillor urged people not to speculate about what may have happened and said there was a book of condolences for members of the public to sign in the civic offices.

Tricky task of catching the people smugglers

Since the Calais migrant camps were shut three years ago and security measures were increased at Dover and the Channel Tunnel, people smugglers have increasingly moved to other routes.

Asked which ports are being used, the National Crime Agency told me: "All of them."

More dangerous methods are being used to get human cargo through.

The most common one is being hidden in the back of a lorry, but increasingly commercial shipping containers are being used, sometimes even refrigerated ones of the type seen on the back of the truck in Essex.

Risks are substantial for the migrants, who can pay £10,000 or more for a space on these vehicles.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50160564.
 
The 39 people found dead in a refrigerated trailer in Essex were Chinese nationals.

Police are continuing to question lorry driver Mo Robinson, 25, on suspicion of murdering the eight women and 31 men.

Officers in Northern Ireland have raided three properties and the National Crime Agency said it was working to identify "organised crime groups who may have played a part".

The trailer arrived in Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Ambulance staff discovered the bodies in the container at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays just after 01:30 BST on Wednesday.

The lorry and trailer left the port at Purfleet shortly after 01:05.

Police said the tractor unit - the front part of the lorry - entered the country via Holyhead in Wales on Sunday, having travelled from Dublin.

Councillor Paul Berry said the village of Laurelvale in County Armagh, where the Robinson family live, was in "complete shock".

He said he had been in contact with Mr Robinson's father, who had learned of his son's arrest on Wednesday through social media.

"The local community is hoping that he [Mo Robinson] has been caught up innocently in this matter but that's in the hands of Essex Police, and we will leave it in their professional hands to try to catch the perpetrators of this," he said.

The lorry was moved to a secure site at Tilbury Docks so investigations could be "conducted in peace" and to give the "utmost dignity to those within the trailer".

Essex Police said it was the largest murder investigation in the force's history and the victims were all "believed to be Chinese nationals".

It said formal identification of the 39 people, one of whom is a young adult woman, "could be a lengthy process".

China's ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming tweeted that the embassy had read the reports of the deaths "with heavy hearts" and was in close contact with British police.


Media captionEssex lorry deaths: CCTV shows arrival at industrial park
Police initially suggested the lorry could be from Bulgaria, but later said officers believed it entered the UK from Belgium.

A spokesman for the Bulgarian foreign affairs ministry said the truck was registered in the country under the name of a company owned by an Irish citizen.

The Belgian Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said the container arrived in Zeebrugge at 14:29 on Tuesday and left the port later that afternoon.

It was not clear when the victims were placed in the container or if this happened in Belgium, a spokesman said.

Lucy Moreton, from the Immigration Services Union, said the sheer number of containers coming into the UK every day made it impossible to look inside them all.

"We don't have the facility to check the vast majority of freight which arrives in the UK, whether it moves or not," she said.

"But it's certainly the case that disconnected freight containers, which are then transported separately, are somewhat less likely unless we have intelligence to the contrary that suggests we need to do that."

The Home Office said it searched lorries and containers "on a targeted basis using a range of different technologies".

St Peter and St Paul's Church in Grays has been opened for people to light candles and say prayers until 14:00.

A vigil is also being held at 18:00 outside the Home Office to "call for urgent action to ensure safe passage" for people fleeing war and poverty.

Shaun Sawyer, the National Police Chiefs Council lead for modern slavery and human trafficking, said while forces had prevented thousands of deaths, "tragically, for 39 people that didn't work yesterday".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme even if there were routes perceived as easier to get through, organised criminals would still exploit people who could not access those.

"You can't turn the United Kingdom into a fortress," added Mr Sawyer, who is the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police.

Thurrock's Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price said there needed to be an international response.

"We have partnerships in place but those efforts need to be rebooted, this is an international criminal world where many gangs are making lots of money and until states act collectively to tackle that it is going to continue," she said.

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said temperatures in refrigerated trailers could be as low as -25C.

He described conditions for anyone inside as "absolutely horrendous".

How many migrants have died in transit?
The number of migrants who die in transit has been recorded by the UN since 2014.

Since then, five bodies of suspected migrants had been found in lorries or containers in the UK before this tragedy.

Data was not collected in the same way before the migrant crisis began in 2014, but such deaths are not new.

In 2000, 58 Chinese migrants were found suffocated to death in a lorry at Dover.

In 2015, the bodies of 71 people were found in an abandoned lorry on an Austrian motorway. Police suspected the vehicle was part of a Bulgarian-Hungarian human trafficking operation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50162617
 
Doesn't reflect well on China. They are spending billions on projects around the globe, yet Chinese nationals are still in desperate enough straits to try desperate moves like this.
 
sweep_shot said:
This is a human tragedy. No doubt.

However, why do people migrate like this? Why can't they come through proper channels? All these can be avoided.
Click to expand...

Obviously they prefer to take a chance with their lives than live in their motherland.
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
If you had open borders then they wouldn't need to hide in the lorries in the first place.
Click to expand...

You mean the open borders within the EU right? If so, it's the exact opposite. No checks for lorries etc is an incentive to hide in such vehicles. The Chinese were non-EU citizens, which means even with open borders, no hiding etc, they would have been stopped and checked. Where as Vehicles travelling within the EU, are not.
 
Technics 1210 said:
You mean the open borders within the EU right? If so, it's the exact opposite. No checks for lorries etc is an incentive to hide in such vehicles. The Chinese were non-EU citizens, which means even with open borders, no hiding etc, they would have been stopped and checked. Where as Vehicles travelling within the EU, are not.
Click to expand...

The post you are talking about said open borders worldwide. I was commenting on that. Might well cause a hundred other forms of chaos, but that is another topic.
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
The post you are talking about said open borders worldwide. I was commenting on that. Might well cause a hundred other forms of chaos, but that is another topic.
Click to expand...

I was referring to the EU given the route of the Lorry (From Bulgaria to the UK).
 
What a tragedy. Can’t imagine what those poor victims had to endure during the final stages of their life. :(
 
Post-mortem examinations are due to be carried out on some of the 39 people found dead in a lorry in Essex.

Eleven of the victims were taken by ambulance from the Port of Tilbury to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford on Thursday evening.

Police believe the eight women and 31 men in the refrigerated unit were Chinese.

Meanwhile, detectives have been granted extra time to hold lorry driver Mo Robinson, 25, on suspicion of murder.

The private ambulance carrying the bodies left the port at 19:41 BST under police escort.

A spokesperson for Essex Police said recovering all the bodies would take time and the dignity of the victims was its primary concern.

The Chinese Ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, said he had sent a team to Essex to help police verify the identity of the victims. He added that their nationality was yet to be confirmed.

Three properties in Northern Ireland have been raided and the National Crime Agency is working to establish if "organised crime groups" were involved.

Police believe the tractor unit - the front part of the lorry - had entered the country via Holyhead in north Wales on Sunday, having travelled from Dublin.

The trailer arrived in Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge in Belgium at 00:30 BST on Wednesday.

The lorry and trailer left the port at Purfleet shortly after 01:05 the same day.

Ambulance staff discovered the bodies in the container at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays about 30 minutes later, just after 01:30.

Dr Richard Shepherd, one of the UK's leading forensic pathologists, said post mortem examinations on the 39 victims would be a "very slow, organised process".

"It is a meticulous examination starting with looking externally," he said.

"What clothes were they wearing? Is there any jewellery that might identify them? Are there any documents? Are there passports?

Dr Shepherd said pathologists would also be searching for clues about how the victims entered the refrigerated unit.

"Have these people been tortured? Have they been sexually assaulted? Have they been beaten and forced in?"

Essex Police said the victims were all "believed to be Chinese nationals".

China's ambassador to the UK, Mr Liu, tweeted: "The Chinese Embassy has sent a team led by the minister-counsellor in charge of consular affairs to Essex, England.

"They have met with the local police, who said that they are verifying the identity of the 39 deceased, whose nationality still cannot be confirmed."

The deaths follow warnings from the National Crime Agency and Border Force about the increased risk of people-smuggling using quieter ports such as Purfleet and routes through Belgium.

It has also emerged the Home Office was warned two years ago that Border Force had staffing problems at east coast ports - including Purfleet, where the container containing the 39 Chinese nationals docked.

An inspection report in July 2017 from David Bolt, The Chief Inspector for Borders and Immigration, said that although Border Force was coping, it was "stretched".

In some instances, he said it was " too thinly" stretched.

The chief inspector also criticised the lack of strategic management by Border Force of its relationships with the companies who own and run the ports, the BBC's Home Affairs Correspondent, Danny Shaw, reports.

Global Trailer Rentals Ltd confirmed to RTE News that it owned the trailer and said it had leased it on 15 October.

The firm said it had given Essex Police the details of the person and company they had leased it to.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50177820.
 
Essex lorry deaths: Post-mortem examinations to start on 39 bodies

Post-mortem examinations are due to be carried out on some of the 39 people found in a refrigerated lorry in Essex.

Eleven of the victims were taken by ambulance from the Port of Tilbury to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford on Thursday evening.

Police, who are still questioning the lorry driver on suspicion of murder, believe the victims were Chinese.

GPS data shows the container crossed back and forth between the UK and Europe in the days before it was found.

The BBC understands that full details of the tracking data have been passed to Essex Police.

The force has been given extra time to hold driver Mo Robinson, 25, who was arrested on Wednesday.

Police said recovering the bodies of the 31 men and eight women would take time and the dignity of the victims was its primary concern.

The Chinese Ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, said he had sent a team to Essex to help verify the identity of the victims. He added that their nationality was yet to be confirmed.

Three properties in Northern Ireland have been raided and the National Crime Agency is working to establish if "organised crime groups" were involved.

Police believe the tractor unit - the front part of the lorry - arrived at Holyhead in north Wales on Sunday, having travelled from Dublin.

The trailer arrived in Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge in Belgium at 00:30 BST on Wednesday.

The lorry and trailer left the port at Purfleet shortly after 01:05 the same day.

Ambulance staff discovered the bodies in the container at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays about 30 minutes later, just after 01:30.

Global Trailer Rentals Ltd confirmed to RTE News that it owned the trailer and said it had been hired on 15 October.

Sources say an outline of tracking data shows the container left GTR's yard in Carrickmacross in County Monaghan in Irelandthat day and crossed into Northern Ireland before returning to the Republic of Ireland.

The data shows it then travelled to Dublin and crossed over to Wales overnight on 16 October, before going to Europe on the Dover to Calais route that evening.

Once in Europe it appears the container travelled between cities in Belgium and France, including Dunkirk, Bruges, and Lille.

Belgian authorities have said it is "highly unlikely" the victims got into the container at Zeebrugge.

Dirk De Fauw, chairman of the port of Zeebrugge and mayor of Bruges, told VRT News: "Breaking the seal, putting 39 people in a trailer and resealing the trailer without anybody noticing is virtually impossible."

Dr Richard Shepherd, one of the UK's leading forensic pathologists, said post-mortem examinations on the 39 victims would be a "very slow, organised process".

"It is a meticulous examination starting with looking externally," he said.

"What clothes were they wearing? Is there any jewellery that might identify them? Are there any documents? Are there passports?"

He said pathologists would also be searching for clues about how the victims entered the unit.

"Have these people been tortured? Have they been sexually assaulted? Have they been beaten and forced in?"

China's ambassador to the UK, Mr Liu, tweeted: "The Chinese Embassy has sent a team led by the minister-counsellor in charge of consular affairs to Essex, England.

"They have met with the local police, who said that they are verifying the identity of the 39 deceased, whose nationality still cannot be confirmed."

The deaths follow warnings from the National Crime Agency and Border Force about the increased risk of people-smuggling using quieter ports such as Purfleet and routes through Belgium.

It also emerged the Home Office was warned two years ago that Border Force had staffing problems at east coast ports including Purfleet, where the container containing the 39 Chinese nationals docked.

An inspection report in July 2017 from David Bolt, The Chief Inspector for Borders and Immigration, said that although Border Force was coping, it was "stretched".

In some instances, he said it was " too thinly" stretched.

The chief inspector also criticised the lack of strategic management by Border Force of its relationships with the companies who own and run the ports, the BBC's Home Affairs Correspondent, Danny Shaw, reports.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50177820
 
sweep_shot said:
This is a human tragedy. No doubt.

However, why do people migrate like this? Why can't they come through proper channels? All these can be avoided.
Click to expand...

Bulgaria is a member of the EU. They could have walked in. So maybe they came from further away.
 
At least three of the 39 people found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex may have been from Vietnam.

The BBC knows of three Vietnamese people whose relatives are worried they may have been in the trailer.

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, has not been heard from since she sent urgent messages on Tuesday saying she could not breathe.

Two people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and the lorry driver remains in custody on suspicion of murder.

Ms Tra My's brother, Pham Ngoc Tuan, says she had paid £30,000 to people smugglers and her last-known location had been Belgium.

The smugglers are understood to have returned money to families of suspected victims.

The last message they received from her was at 22:30 BST on Tuesday - two hours before the trailer arrived at the Purfleet terminal from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Her brother told the BBC: "My sister went missing on 23 October on the way from Vietnam to the UK and we couldn't contact her. We are concerned she may be in that trailer.

"We are asking the British police to help investigate so that my sister can be returned to the family."

'Trip has failed'
Ms Tra My's family have shared the last text messages she sent to her parents.

They read: "I am really, really sorry, Mum and Dad, my trip to a foreign land has failed," she wrote.

"I am dying, I can't breathe. I love you very much Mum and Dad. I am sorry, Mother."

Ms Tra My's brother told the BBC her journey to the UK had begun on 3 October. She had told the family not to contact her because "the organisers" did not allow her to receive calls.

"She flew to China and stayed there for a couple days, then left for France," he said.

"She called us when she reached each destination. The first attempt she made to cross the border to the UK was 19 October, but she got caught and turned back. I don't know for sure from which port."

The BBC has passed details of Ms Tra My, who is from Nghen town in Can Loc district of Ha Tinh province area of Vietnam, to Essex Police.

The BBC also knows of two other Vietnamese nationals who are missing - a 26-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman.

The brother of the 19-year-old said his sister called him at 07:20 Belgian local time (06:20 BST) on Tuesday, saying she was getting into a container and was turning off her phone to avoid detection.

He has not heard from her since.

He said a people smuggler returned money to the family overnight, and the family of the 26-year-old who she was travelling with also received money back.

A spokesman from the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK confirmed they were in contact with Essex Police in regard to Ms Tra My.

The victims of the trailer were 31 men and eight women and Essex Police initially said they were all believed to be Chinese.

They were found at an industrial estate in Grays at 01:40 BST on Wednesday.

GPS data shows the refrigerated container trailer crossed back and forth between the UK and Europe in the days before it was found.

It was leased from the company Global Trailer Rentals on 15 October. The company said it was "entirely unaware that the trailer was to be used in the manner in which it appears to have been".

Essex Police said the tractor unit (the front part of the lorry) had entered the UK via Holyhead - an Irish Sea port in Wales - on Sunday 20 October, having travelled over from Dublin.

Police believe the tractor unit collected the trailer in Purfleet on the River Thames and left the port shortly after 01:05 on Thursday. Police were called to the industrial park where the bodies were discovered about half an hour later.

Temperatures in refrigerated units can be as low as -25C (-13F). The lorry now is at a secure site in Essex.

Detectives are still questioning the lorry driver, Mo Robinson, of County Armagh in Northern Ireland, on suspicion of murder. He was arrested on Wednesday.

Two other people were also earlier arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

The man and woman, both 38, from Warrington, Cheshire, were earlier also held on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic.

Police officers were seen at the couple's home address in Warrington, with a police van and two squad cars parked outside.

Sources say the GPS data shows it left Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland on 15 October before crossing over to Northern Ireland and then returning south to Dublin
From Dublin, it crossed over to Holyhead in Wales overnight on 16 October
That evening, it travelled to continental Europe from Dover to Calais in France
Between 17 and 22 October, it moved between various cities in Belgium and France, including Dunkirk, Bruges and Lille
On 22 October, it made its final crossing from Zeebrugge to Purfleet

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50185788
 
Ms Tra My's brother, Pham Ngoc Tuan, says she had paid £30,000 to people smugglers and her last-known location had been Belgium.
Click to expand...

You would think if you had £30,000 to spend on getting abroad, you should be able to use that money to build a better life closer to home rather than risk death on dangerous smuggling runs. Is Vietnam really in such a bad way that it's worth risking your life to get away?
 
At least six of the 39 people found dead in a lorry trailer in Essex may have been from Vietnam.

The BBC knows of six Vietnamese families who fear their relatives are among the victims.

They include Pham Thi Tra My, 26, who has not been heard from since she sent text messages on Tuesday saying she could not breathe.

A man was earlier arrested at Stansted Airport on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.

The 48-year-old from Northern Ireland is the fourth person to be arrested in connection with the investigation.

Two people from Warrington are being held on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people and the lorry driver is in custody on suspicion of murder.

Ms Tra My's brother, Pham Ngoc Tuan, said some of the £30,000 charge for getting his sister to the UK had been paid to people smugglers and her last-known location had been Belgium.

The smugglers are understood to have returned money to some families.

Meanwhile, relatives of Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20, have also said they fear he is among the 39 victims.

Ms Tra My's brother told the BBC: "My sister went missing on 23 October on the way from Vietnam to the UK and we couldn't contact her. We are concerned she may be in that trailer.

"We are asking the British police to help investigate so that my sister can be returned to the family."

The last message received from Ms Tra My was at 22:30 BST on Tuesday - two hours before the trailer arrived at the Purfleet terminal from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Her family have shared texts she sent to her parents which translated read: "I am really, really sorry, Mum and Dad, my trip to a foreign land has failed.

"I am dying, I can't breathe. I love you very much Mum and Dad. I am sorry, Mother."

Ms Tra My's brother told the BBC her journey to the UK had begun on 3 October. She had told the family not to contact her because "the organisers" did not allow her to receive calls.

"She flew to China and stayed there for a couple days, then left for France," he said.

"She called us when she reached each destination. The first attempt she made to cross the border to the UK was 19 October, but she got caught and turned back. I don't know for sure from which port."

The BBC has passed details of Ms Tra My, who is from Nghen town in Can Loc district of Ha Tinh province area of Vietnam, to Essex Police, along with details of other people claiming to have information.

The BBC also knows of two other Vietnamese nationals who are missing - a 26-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman.

The brother of the 19-year-old said his sister called him at 07:20 Belgian local time (06:20 BST) on Tuesday, saying she was getting into a container and was turning off her phone to avoid detection.

He has not heard from her since.

He said a people smuggler returned money to the family overnight, and the family of the 26-year-old who she was travelling with also received money back.

A spokesman from the Vietnamese Embassy in London confirmed they had been in contact with Essex police since Thursday.

They said Vietnamese families had appealed to them for help finding out if their relatives were among the victims but added they had not yet received any official confirmation.

The victims of the trailer were 31 men and eight women and Essex Police initially said they were all believed to be Chinese.

They were found at an industrial estate in Grays at 01:40 BST on Wednesday.

At a press conference on Friday evening Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills said the force was working with the National Crime Agency, the Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement.

She said she would not be drawn on any further detail about the nationalities of the victims until formal identification processes had taken place.

"We gave an initial steer on Thursday on nationality, however, this is now a developing picture," she said.

Police have confirmed the scene at Waterglade Industrial Estate in Eastern Avenue was closed on Friday.

Essex Police also urged anyone fearing their loved ones may have been in the lorry to get in touch.

"I can't begin to comprehend what some of you must be going through right now. You have my assurance that Essex Police will be working tirelessly to understand the whole picture to this absolute tragedy," said Det Ch Con Mills.

She also urged anyone living illegally in the UK who may have information to come forward, without fear of criminal action being taken against them.

GPS data shows the refrigerated container trailer crossed back and forth between the UK and Europe in the days before it was found.

It was leased from the company Global Trailer Rentals on 15 October. The company said it was "entirely unaware that the trailer was to be used in the manner in which it appears to have been".

Essex Police said the tractor unit (the front part of the lorry) had entered the UK via Holyhead - an Irish Sea port in Wales - on Sunday 20 October, having travelled over from Dublin.

Police believe the tractor unit collected the trailer in Purfleet on the River Thames and left the port shortly after 01:05 on Thursday. Police were called to the industrial park where the bodies were discovered about half an hour later.

Temperatures in refrigerated units can be as low as -25C (-13F). The lorry now is at a secure site in Essex.

A spokesman for the UN International Organization for Migration said the discovery of bodies in Essex did not necessarily indicate a major shift in migration patterns.

"These are the kind of random crimes that occur every day in the world somewhere," he said. "They get huge attention when they do but they don't necessarily indicate a big shift in migration or patterns in any place in particular. It's just the condition of what happens when this many people are engaging this many criminal groups to reach a destination, which of course we deplore."

Detectives are still questioning the lorry driver, Mo Robinson, of County Armagh in Northern Ireland, on suspicion of murder. He was arrested on Wednesday.

Two other people were also earlier arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

The man and woman, both 38, from Warrington, Cheshire, are also being held on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people.

Police officers were seen at the couple's home address in Warrington, with a police van and two squad cars parked outside.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50185788.
 
Police investigating the deaths of 39 people, believed to be Chinese nationals, found in a truck near London said they had arrested two people on Friday on suspicion of human trafficking and continued to question the driver as a murder suspect.

As China called on Britain to seek “severe punishment” for those involved in the deaths, police said they had detained a man and a woman, both aged 38, in Warrington, northwest England, on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and of 39 counts of manslaughter.

The 25-year-old truck driver remains in custody after being arrested following the grim discovery of the bodies in the back of his refrigerated truck in the early hours of Wednesday.

He has not been formally identified but a source familiar with the investigation named him as Mo Robinson from the Portadown area of Northern Ireland. Detectives will decide later whether to charge him with an offence, release him or ask a court for more time to question him.

Late on Thursday, British authorities moved 11 of the victims — 31 men and eight women — to a hospital mortuary from a secure location at docks near the industrial estate in Grays about 20 miles (30 km) east of London where the bodies were found.

Post-mortem examinations were beginning to determine how exactly they died while forensic experts sought to identify the deceased, which police warned would be a lengthy process.

The British police said they believed the victims were Chinese and China's Embassy in London said it had sent a team to Essex. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said police had not yet been able to verify the nationalities of the deceased.

“We hope that the British side can as soon as possible confirm and verify the identities of the victims, ascertain what happened and severely punish criminals involved in the case,” she told a daily news briefing.

For years, illegal immigrants have attempted to reach Britain stowed away in trucks, often from the European mainland. In 2000, 58 Chinese were found dead in a tomato truck at the port of Dover.

China's Global Times, which is published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily, said in a Friday editorial that Britain should bear some responsibility for the deaths.

“It is clear that Britain and relevant European countries have not fulfilled their responsibility to protect these people from such a death,” the widely read tabloid said.

It added that Britain appeared not to have learned its lesson from the Dover incident two decades ago.

“Could the British and European people ask themselves why they have not been able to avoid a similar tragedy ... Did they take all the serious remedial action that they could have?” it said.

Truck's movements
The police investigation is focused on the movement of the trailer prior to its arrival at Purfleet docks near Grays little more than an hour before the bodies were found, and on who was behind the suspected human trafficking.

“This is the largest investigation of its kind Essex Police has ever had to conduct and it is likely to take some considerable time to come to a conclusion,” Essex Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington said.

His force has said their priority was ensuring respect and compassion in treatment of the victims.

Irish company Global Trailer Rentals said it owned the trailer and had rented it out on Oct. 15. The firm said it was unaware of what it was to be used for.

The refrigeration unit had travelled to Britain from Zeebrugge in Belgium and the town's chairman, Dirk de Fauw, said he believed the victims died in the trailer before it arrived in the Belgian port.

The Times newspaper reported that GPS data showed the container had arrived at the Belgian port at 2.49pm local time on Tuesday before later making the 10-hour sea crossing to Britain.

Police said the cab unit of the truck was driven over from Dublin on Sunday, crossing the Irish Sea by ship and entering Britain in North Wales. It picked up the trailer in Purfleet shortly after midnight on Wednesday.

The National Crime Agency, which targets serious and organised crime, said it was helping the investigation and working urgently to identify any gangs involved.

The head of the Road Haulage Association said traffickers were “upping their game” and closer cooperation with European nations was needed, although that may be complicated by Britain's planned exit from the European Union.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1512863/u...woman-for-human-trafficking-over-truck-deaths.
 
Big tragedy here. Either they were unaware of having to spend so much time in the back of a truck or took an unwinnable risk. From what I hear things in Vietnam are not that bad that one should risk their life to get to Europe or the UK. These people smugglers convince such people to take such risks for a hefty sum convincing them they'll easily make it. Better to try for a visitors visa or something instead of taking such risks. Could understand if they were escaping a complete war zone but Vietnam or China, no. It has got to the stage now that genuine asylum seekers can not be separated from economic migrants.
 
The Lorry was stopped close to London, so the question is How did the driver manage to cross the border without being checked by the UK Border force?

So much so for their ability to control borders now. How will they cope after Brexit?
 
Community leaders and families in Vietnam say the 39 people whose bodies were found inside a lorry container in Grays in Essex were part of a convoy of more than 100 people travelling on three lorries trying to make it across Europe
 
Police continue to question four suspects over the deaths of 39 people inside a refrigerated trailer - amid reports some victims were Vietnamese.

The BBC knows of six families who fear relatives were among those found in Essex on Wednesday.

Further unconfirmed reports have identified other Vietnamese citizens as potential victims.

Three people were arrested on Friday on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.

VietHome, an organisation that represents the Vietnamese community in the UK, said it had received photos of nearly 20 people reported missing.

In Vietnam, Father Anthony Dang Huu Nam said he had been told of "more than 100" people who left the Yen Thanh province "on their way to a new life".

Families from the area believed their relatives were victims of the "tragic journey", he said.

The BBC has also been contacted by Vietnamese families who fear their relatives were among the eight women and 31 men found at an industrial park in Grays on Wednesday.

They were inside the refrigerated unit which had travelled to the UK from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

Essex Police initially said the victims were believed to be Chinese nationals.

VietHome said it began to receive reports of missing people soon after the discovery. Those who have disappeared were aged between 15 and 45, it said.

One woman's brother told the BBC she had not been heard from since Tuesday, when she sent panicked texts saying she could not breathe.

The last message from Pham Thi Tra My, 26, was sent to her family at 22:30 BST on Tuesday - two hours before the trailer arrived at the Purfleet terminal from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Her family have shared texts she sent to her parents which, translated, read: "I am really, really sorry, Mum and Dad, my trip to a foreign land has failed.

"I am dying, I can't breathe. I love you very much Mum and Dad. I am sorry, Mother."

"We are asking the British police to help investigate so that my sister can be returned to the family," her brother said.

'Cruel stage'
Relatives of Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20, have also said they fear he is among the 39 victims.

His father, Nguyen Dinh Gia, said he had not heard from his son since last week when he said he was joining a group in Paris to try and reach the UK.

"He often called home but I haven't been able to reach him since the last time we talked last week," he said.

Work is continuing to identify those who died.

A 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland was detained at Stansted Airport and a couple from Warrington, Joanna and Thomas Maher, were arrested in Cheshire.

Before their arrest, the couple denied having anything to do with the lorry and told reporters they sold it last year.

The driver of the lorry, Mo Robinson, has been held on suspicion of murder since Wednesday.

Police have been given extra time to question the 25-year-old of County Armagh.

The trailer arrived in Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge in Belgium at 00:30 BST on Wednesday.

It left the port shortly after 01:05 the same day and the bodies were discovered at Waterglade Industrial Park about 35 minutes later.

Police in Belgium are trying to trace the route of the trailer and the driver who delivered it to Zeebrugge.

"We would like people to be arrested as soon as possible," said a spokesman for the Belgian prosecutor's office.

Bernie Gravett, a former Met officer who now advises the EU on trafficking, said identifying the victims would be a difficult process as those in the container may have been carrying false documents.

"It's a cruel stage for the families, because hundreds if not thousands are currently on those routes, so I appreciate we are getting calls from Vietnam saying my loved one is missing and my loved one may be on that lorry but they could be on another lorry," he said.

The Vietnamese Embassy in London has been in contact with Essex police since Thursday, a spokesman confirmed.

Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, said China was taking "firm and effective measures against human trafficking".

He called on the international community to "step up co-operation to crackdown on the crime of human trafficking".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50191627
 
Knight_Rider said:
The Lorry was stopped close to London, so the question is How did the driver manage to cross the border without being checked by the UK Border force?

So much so for their ability to control borders now. How will they cope after Brexit?
Click to expand...

The checking of every shipment into the country is impossible.
 
A lorry driver has been charged with the manslaughter of 39 people found dead inside a refrigerated trailer.

Maurice Robinson, 25, was arrested after the bodies of 31 men and eight women were found in Grays on Wednesday.

He is further charged with people trafficking, immigration and money laundering offences, Essex Police said.

Mr Robinson, of Laurel Drive, Craigavon, Northern Ireland, is due before Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Three others, a man and a woman, both 38 and from Warrington, Cheshire, and a 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland remain in police custody.

All were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.

A man in his 20s arrested by Irish police in Dublin was said to be "of interest" to the Essex force's investigation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50196265
 
Last edited:
There are fears that at least some of the victims found dead inside a refrigerated lorry in Essex on Wednesday came from Vietnam.

Anti-trafficking charities say that many people who travel illegally from Vietnam to the UK are seeking to make money to send back to their families.

But why and how do Vietnamese people make such hazardous and potentially life-threatening journeys across the world?

Why are they leaving Vietnam?
"Vietnam is a booming economy but not everyone is benefitting enormously from that," says Giang Nguyen, head of the BBC's Vietnamese Service.

"Vietnam has a huge surplus of labour."

According to the UN, while the country has enjoyed significant reductions in poverty at a national level, it is unequal across population groups and regions.

"Most of the migrants who go to Europe and the UK from Vietnam actually only come from a handful of provinces in Vietnam," says Mimi Vu, an expert on anti-trafficking in Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh City.

"In these areas there's been a tradition in the past couple of decades of migration overseas, legal or irregular, in order to find work and then sending money home."

During the last decade, migration from Vietnam to the UK originated from the northern city Hai Phong and Quang Ninh province, but more recently there has been the growth of irregular migration from three central provinces, Nghe An, Quang Binh and Ha Tinh, which are comparatively poorer.

It has been estimated that networks from Vietnam are smuggling around 18,000 people a year to Europe, but fewer than 1,000 a year to the United States.

Why do they want to come to the UK?
For Vietnamese migrants, the UK is probably the most popular destination in Europe, says Dr Tamsin Barber, a lecturer in political sociology at Oxford-Brookes University, who specialises in migration and the British-Vietnamese population.

They know if they come to the UK they're likely to be able to secure work and possibly quite a lot of money to send back to their families in Vietnam, she says.

There's also a wide network of Vietnamese people who are already in the UK who can help newcomers with accommodation and employment.

Once they're in the UK, there is high demand for low-skilled labour in Vietnamese restaurants, nail salons and the illicit cannabis industry.

Interviews with Vietnamese returnees from the UK suggest the majority worked in manual occupations such as agriculture and fishing, but also in seasonal or casual work or running small businesses. Some were unemployed.

But, Dr Barber adds, "there is - at the moment - no legal route in for low-skilled Vietnamese migrants working in the UK, so this is obviously having to be done through very circuitous and precarious journeys".

How much does the trip cost?
Ms Vu says prospective migrants can pay a range of prices. For those with less money - $10,000 to $15,000 (£7,800 to £11,600) - the journey is "more arduous" and could, for example, include stints of walking across forests at night.

But those who can afford to pay more - $40,000 to $50,000 (£31,000 to £39,000) - would travel mostly by plane.

A sum of £30,000 is the equivalent of 30 years' salary for someone living in a rural area in Vietnam, Ms Vu says.

It's "an astronomical sum", she adds, but some families believe it is worth it "because they believe this is the best way for them or their child to have a better future".

"Vietnam is a very family-centric culture and everything is done for the family."

According to the UN, Vietnamese migrants may have generated $300m (£234m) a year for smugglers to take them to Europe.

To finance the trip, many borrow from family and acquaintances.

Some are forced to use the informal credit market, with interest on the loan fluctuating at the whim of the lender.

Unsurprisingly, if the journey fails, they would have attempted it again as it's the only way for them to recoup the money.

Dr Barber says others may raise the money through selling land or property.

Vietnamese families are taking these "huge risks" because they "really view this as their one opportunity to send a family member abroad to earn money," she says.

How do they get to the UK?
Smuggling agents market two type of services to transport migrants to the UK - "premium" or "economy" - according to research by the Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner.

A premium service is advertised as taking as direct a route as possible with minimal risk. In one case, would-be migrants were given Schengen business visa application papers and a direct flight to Paris, where they were kept in safe houses before travelling to the UK.

The cheaper economy option would have taken them several months.

"But no matter what kind of 'class' of travel you choose, you are still going to end up at a border and still going to be snuck in in the back of a lorry or on a ferry," Ms Vu says.

Most Vietnamese nationals arriving in Europe travel to Russia first before going overland through Eastern Europe.

In the past, many victims told the police that they had passed through China en route to the UK.

In fact, China, together with France, Russia, Germany and Poland, are among the common transit countries for Vietnamese migrants who attempt to travel to the UK.

Many may stop in these transit countries, such as Ukraine or Poland, where they are asked to work in exploitative conditions to either finance the next leg of their journey or make money for their traffickers.

The last leg of the journey is likely from France. Here, people could pay a smuggler to be hidden in a secret compartment of a truck, or hide themselves in a truck close to the harbour without the driver noticing.

A recent report funded by the Home Office noted Vietnamese who are trafficked for forced labour or sexual exploitation, or willingly smuggled to Europe, are vulnerable to exploitation during their journeys.

Girls are particularly susceptible to sexual exploitation at the hands of traffickers, it said.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50194118.
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
You would think if you had £30,000 to spend on getting abroad, you should be able to use that money to build a better life closer to home rather than risk death on dangerous smuggling runs. Is Vietnam really in such a bad way that it's worth risking your life to get away?
Click to expand...

In India, It costs around 25 lakh INR (40k USD) for single person to reach Central American countries via fake documents from Phillipines, from there you make a bus journey to Mexico then to US by climbing the Mexico border wall. It's a cartel business. Even after spending so much money there is no guarantee you will reach your destination.

You don't know how desperate people are, they are willing to sacrifice their all to reach developed countries.
 
Knight_Rider said:
The Lorry was stopped close to London, so the question is How did the driver manage to cross the border without being checked by the UK Border force?

So much so for their ability to control borders now. How will they cope after Brexit?
Click to expand...

It arrived from a EU nation and had the correct security seals. Tens of thousands of trucks do this every day.
 
Oh i see. Thanks for the info.

A few times i ve flown from Dublin to London, there were NO passport checks on arrival and the passengers came out through domestic arrival gates. I was confused why so because from any other EU country, you have to pass the immigration on arrival.

If its some special agreement between UK and Republic of Ireland, then it must be an open secret to all the People smugglers.
 
A lorry driver has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter over the Essex container deaths.

Maurice Robinson, 25, will appear at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Monday. He is also charged with conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.

An Essex Police statement said: "The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Essex Police to charge a man in connection with... the deaths of 39 people whose bodies were found in Grays on Wednesday.

"Maurice Robinson, 25, of Laurel Drive, Craigavon, Northern Ireland, was arrested shortly after the discovery was made at the Waterglade Retail Park.

"Three other people have been arrested in connection with this investigation.

"A 38-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman from Warrington and a 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland, who were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter, remain in custody."

On Saturday, a man in his early 20s was arrested at Dublin port on an unrelated matter, and it is understood he is of interest to Essex Police over the deaths.

https://news.sky.com/story/essex-lo...arged-with-39-counts-of-manslaughter-11845964
 
Three people arrested over Essex lorry deaths released on bail

Three people arrested over deaths of the 39 people whose bodies were found in a lorry have been released on bail.

A 38-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman from Warrington were arrested in Cheshire on Friday, while a 46-year-old man from Northern Ireland was arrested at Stansted Airport later the same day.

All three had been questioned on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people, Essex Police said.

The man and woman from Warrington have both been released on bail until 11 November while the man from Northern Ireland has been bailed until 13 November.

It comes after 25-year-old Maurice Robinson from Northern Ireland was charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and money laundering.

He is due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court tomorrow.

The bodies of eight women and 31 men were found by police in the refrigerated trailer of a lorry on an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, in the early hours of Wednesday.

None of the victims have been formally identified as detectives try to establish where they came from.

There are unconfirmed reports some of the dead are Vietnamese and the lorry was part of a convoy of three vehicles transporting around 100 people.

The Vietnamese Embassy in London has started a hotline while the ambassador to the UK, Tran Ngoc An, spoke to Home Secretary Priti Patel on Friday night before meeting investigators from the National Crime Agency and Essex Police.

All of the victims have since been moved from the vehicle in Tilbury Docks to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford for post-mortem examinations to be carried out.

Investigators will look at tattoos, scars and belongings, including jewellery and clothing, with each of the victims said to have had some kind of bag.

More than 500 exhibits have been collected, including mobile phones, which will be downloaded and interrogated for any messages that could give clues to the identity of the victims or how they came to be in the back of the trailer.
https://news.sky.com/story/three-people-released-on-bail-over-essex-lorry-deaths-11846618
 
Essex lorry deaths: Maurice Robinson in court on manslaughter charges

A driver accused of the manslaughter of 39 people found dead in a lorry was part of a "global ring" of people smugglers, prosecutors have alleged.

Maurice Robinson, from Craigavon, was remanded in custody at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court.

The 39 bodies were found in the lorry trailer on an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, on Wednesday.

Writing in a book of condolence, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the world had been "shocked by this tragedy".

Mr Robinson, of Laurel Drive, appeared via video-link and is charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.

Prosecutor Ogheneruona Iguyovwe described the conspiracy charges as "a global ring" involving "the movement of a large number of illegal immigrants into the UK".

Mr Robinson was not asked to indicate pleas and will next appear at the Old Bailey on 25 November.

DNA tests are being carried out in Vietnam to help to identify the victims.

The prime minister was joined at Thurrock Council's offices by Home Secretary Priti Patel and members of the emergency services.

They also paid their respects to the victims by laying flowers in the nearby Mulberry garden.

Writing in the book of condolence, Mr Johnson said: "The whole nation, and indeed the world had been shocked by this tragedy and the cruelty of the fate that has been suffered by innocent people who were hoping for a better life in this country.

"In condemning the callousness of those responsible for this crime, we in the government of the United Kingdom resolve to do everything in our power to bring the perpetrators to justice."

Ms Patel later told the House of Commons there would be an "increased presence" of Border Force officers at Purfleet, the Essex port where the container arrived.

She also said an agreement had been reached with Belgian authorities to send additional immigration officers to Zeebrugge.

Three other people arrested in connection with the deaths were released on bail on Sunday.

Another driver, who is suspected of bringing the container to Zeebrugge before it crossed the Channel, was arrested at the port of Dublin on Saturday on unrelated charges.

But Irish police, who are liaising with their Essex counterparts, said the man was the driver of a blue truck seized at Dublin port as part of the ongoing investigations into the 39 deaths.

Detectives in Essex are now working on the largest mass fatality victim identification process in the force's history.

Initially, police said the 31 men and eight women were Chinese but a number of Vietnamese families have described how they fear their loved ones are among the dead.

Some of the victims are said to have paid thousands of pounds to guarantee their safe passage to the UK, from where they would be able to carry out work that would give them money to send home.

Reuters reports that the UK government has sent documents to Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security in a bid to identify four of the 39 victims.

Families in the country have shared their fears their loved ones could have been among those who died.

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, sent her family a message on Tuesday night, saying her "trip to a foreign land has failed".

Meanwhile, Nguyen Dinh Gia said he had not heard from his son Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20, since he told him last week he was trying to join a group to get from Paris to the UK.

Detectives are also investigating claims the lorry could have been part of a convoy of three carrying about 100 people.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-50204294
 
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Two brothers are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter over 39 people found dead in a lorry in Essex.

Ronan Hughes, 40, and Christopher Hughes, 34, from Armagh in Northern Ireland, are also wanted by police on suspicion of human trafficking.

The 39 bodies were found in the lorry trailer on an industrial estate in Grays on Wednesday.

Police believe the Hughes brothers are in Northern Ireland but say they have links to the Republic of Ireland.

The driver of the lorry, Maurice Robinson, also from Northern Ireland, appeared in court on Monday charged with a string of offences, including 39 counts of manslaughter.

Det Ch Supt Stuart Hooper said: "Finding and speaking to the Hughes brothers is crucial to our investigation.

"This is a case where 39 men and women have tragically died and support from the community is going to be vital to help bring those responsible to justice."

It is understood that the Hughes brothers are originally from Co Monaghan but have at least one business address in Northern Ireland.

Essex Police said Ronan Hughes also goes by the name Rowan.

The force asked for anyone with information about the brothers' whereabouts to contact officers.

Three other people arrested - a 38 year-old man, a 38 year-old woman, and a 46 year-old man - have all been released on bail.

Another driver, who is suspected of bringing the container to Zeebrugge before it crossed the Channel, was arrested at the port of Dublin on Saturday on unrelated charges.

Irish police, who are liaising with their Essex counterparts, said the man was the driver of a blue truck seized as part of the ongoing investigations into the 39 deaths.

Image caption
The families of Pham Thi Tra My and Nguyen Dinh Luong are concerned they may be among the victims
Police initially believed the 31 men and eight women discovered dead in the refrigerated container in the early hours of Wednesday morning were Chinese.

But a number of Vietnamese families have come forward fearing their loved ones are among the dead.

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, sent her family a message on Tuesday night, saying her "trip to a foreign land has failed".

The BBC understands from Vietnamese government sources that officers from national and provincial police departments are ready to travel to the UK to assist with the inquiry.

Vietnamese police have taken DNA samples from the hair and fingernails of some of the relatives of suspected victims to help with the identification process.

Essex lorry deaths: What we know
Lorry death agony builds for Vietnamese families
News agency Reuters said British police had sent documents relating to four of the dead to Vietnamese police.

It reported that Vietnam's deputy foreign minister Nguyen Quoc Cuong said his country and Britain were "trying to speed up identification of the bodies, but no deadline has been set".

The bodies have all been moved to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford where they are being examined to establish cause of death.

A spokesman for the Essex coroner's office told the BBC: "At this stage work is still ongoing to identify the 39 victims and it is not possible to put a timescale on this.

"The coroner will consider matters relating to inquests in due course."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50221753
 
Twelve men have been discovered hiding inside a refrigerated lorry in a car park near a motorway in Belgium's Antwerp province, local police say.

Police were called to the scene on Tuesday night by the driver who suspected that people had climbed inside his fruit and vegetable lorry.

Eleven Syrians and one Sudanese man were found safe and well, and were handed over to immigration officials.

Last week, 39 people were found dead in a refrigerated lorry in England.

The driver of the vehicle, which had arrived in England via the Belgian ferry port of Zeebrugge, has been charged with their manslaughter.

It is believed that those who died were migrants from Vietnam or China trying to enter the UK illegally. It is not yet clear how they died, whether they froze or suffocated.

What happened in Belgium?
The lorry was standing in a car park beside the E34 motorway at Oud-Turnhout.

The motorway runs from Zeebrugge to Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia region.

The destination of the lorry was not given.

Every year, thousands of migrants attempt to enter the UK illegally via European ferry ports, typically hiding in vehicles.

Refrigerated lorries are often targeted because it is easier to bypass heat scanners that way, a spokeswoman for Belgian transport federation Febetra said.

Febetra has been calling for safer motorway parking to tackle the problem, Isabelle De Maegt told Belgian broadcaster VRT.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50238711.
 
A second man has appeared in court over the manslaughter of 39 people found in a lorry container in Essex last week.

Eamonn Harrison, 22, from Mayobridge, County Down, appeared in court in Dublin on Friday.

It is also reported that two people have been arrested in Vietnam on suspicion of people smuggling.

Police have also appealed to brothers Ronan and Christopher Hughes, who are wanted in connection with the deaths, to hand themselves in.

Ronan, 40, and Christopher Hughes, 34, are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and people trafficking.

Speaking in Belfast, police confirmed they had spoken to Ronan by phone.

"Ronan and Christopher, hand yourselves in," said Det Ch Insp Daniel Stoten, who is leading the lorry deaths investigation for Essex Police.

"We need you both to come forward and assist this investigation."

He added that speaking to the Hughes brothers was crucial.

"The sooner we can make this happen, the sooner we can progress with our investigation," he said.

Mr Stoten, who is leading the lorry deaths investigation for Essex Police, said the Hughes brothers have links to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

They are also connected to the road haulage and shipping industries.

Essex Police have said the brothers are from County Armagh.

It is understood they are originally from County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland but have at least one business address in Northern Ireland.

The PSNI stopped and seized a lorry on Thursday, believed to be connected to the Hughes brothers.

No further arrests were made.

Has anyone been charged?
The driver of the lorry in which the bodies were found, Maurice Robinson, appeared in court in Chelmsford on Monday.

The 25-year-old, of Laurel Drive, Craigavon, is charged with a string of offences, including 39 counts of manslaughter.

Prosecutors alleged that Mr Robinson was part of a "global ring" of people smugglers.

He was remanded in custody and is due to appear again at the Old Bailey in London later this month.

Who were the victims?
All eight women and 31 men are thought to have been adults except one "young adult" woman who, police previously said may have been a teenager.

Police initially believed the victims to be Chinese nationals but their efforts to identify them are now focusing on the Vietnamese community.

VietHome, an organisation that represents the Vietnamese community in the UK said it had passed on the pictures of almost 20 people who have been reported missing to detectives.

The Vietnamese embassy in London has set up a contact line for people to get in touch.

What about the lorry and the trailer?
GPS data shows the refrigerated container trailer in which the bodies were found crossed back and forth between the UK and continental Europe in the days before it was found.

It was leased from the company Global Trailer Rentals on 15 October. The company said it was "entirely unaware that the trailer was to be used in the manner in which it appears to have been".

It is not the lorry police seized on 31 October in Northern Ireland.

Sources say the GPS data shows it left Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland on 15 October before crossing over to Northern Ireland and then returning south to Dublin
From Dublin, it crossed over to Holyhead in Wales overnight on 16 October
That evening, it travelled to continental Europe from Dover to Calais in France
Between 17 and 22 October, it moved between various cities in Belgium and France, including Dunkirk, Bruges and Lille
On 22 October, it made its final crossing from Zeebrugge to Purfleet
Essex Police said the tractor unit (the front part of the lorry) had entered the UK via Holyhead - an Irish Sea port in Wales - on 20 October, having travelled over from Dublin.

Police believe the tractor unit collected the trailer in Purfleet on the River Thames and left the port shortly after 01:05 on 23 October. Police were called to the industrial park where the bodies were discovered about half an hour later.

Temperatures in refrigerated units can be as low as -25C (-13F). The lorry now is at a secure site in Essex.

Early reports had suggested the lorry may have arrived from Bulgaria but its government has since clarified that while the tractor unit was registered there in 2017 it had not entered the country since.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-50261287
 
All 39 people found dead in a refrigerated lorry in Essex were Vietnamese nationals, police have said.

The victims were found in a container on an industrial estate last week and were initially thought to be Chinese.

But Essex Police said it was now in "direct contact with a number of families in Vietnam and the UK" and the Vietnamese government.

A number of Vietnamese families have previously come forward fearing their loved ones are among the dead.

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, sent her family a message on Tuesday night, saying her "trip to a foreign land has failed".

Post-mortem examinations are being carried out on the 31 men and eight women to establish the cause of death.

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Smith said: "At this time, we believe the victims are Vietnamese nationals, and we are in contact with the Vietnamese Government."

He said police were not in a position to identify any of the victims.

The Vietnamese Embassy in London said it was "deeply saddened" and sent its "heartfelt condolences" to the families of the victims.

"Specific identities of the victims still need to be identified and confirmed by the relevant authorities of Vietnam and UK," it said.

It said would "closely co-ordinate with the relevant authorities of Vietnam and UK to support the families of the Vietnamese victims, if any, to bring their loved ones home".

The father of 30-year-old Le Van Ha, who comes from an agricultural part of Vietnam, previously told the BBC he was convinced his son was among the dead.

VietHome, a popular Vietnamese community forum in the UK, said it had passed on the pictures of almost 20 people who have been reported missing to detectives.

Earlier, police in Vietnam's Ha Tinh province said they had charged two unnamed people with "organising or brokering illegal immigration".

The driver of the lorry, Maurice Robinson, from Northern Ireland, appeared in court on Monday charged with a string of offences, including 39 counts of manslaughter.

Extradition proceedings have also begun against 22-year-old Eamonn Harrison, who was arrested in Dubin on a European Arrest Warrant.

Police are also seeking two brothers from Northern Ireland, Ronan and Christopher Hughes, who are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and people trafficking.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50268939.
 
These folks risk their lives unnecessarily. The money they waste to come illegally, they can use that money to do something productive back home.
 
Sad way to die.

Showed that Pakistan has so much to do to improve the life of a common poor person.
 
Services have been held in memory of the 39 Vietnamese victims found dead in a lorry container in Essex.

More than 100 people attended the service at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in east London on Saturday evening.

The Reverend Simon Nguyen, who led the service, said the 39 died "seeking freedom, dignity and happiness".

At Mass on at the same church on Sunday Bishop Nicholas Hudson also asked for prayers for traffickers.

It was confirmed by police on Friday that all of those who were found were Vietnamese. Police had initially believed they were Chinese.

Image copyrightPA MEDIA
Image caption
Candles were arranged into a figure of 39 to represent the number who died
At the service on Saturday evening, prayers were heard and members of the Catholic congregation performed readings and candles were lit.

"We show our condolences and sympathies for the people who have lost their lives on the way seeking freedom, dignity and happiness," said Mr Nguyen.

"We ask God to welcome them into his kingdom even though some of them were not Catholic but they strongly believed in eternal peace, so we pray for them."

After the service he said: "The people here are very united because we are all refugees.

"All the people here - most of the Vietnamese - came here as refugees in the '70s and the '80s and the '90s."

He said in those decades, the disappearances of people from Vietnam were "not reported by the media, but many of them died".

"These victims [who died in the lorry last month], this tragedy, was reported but many tragedies to the Vietnamese no-one [knows about]," he said.

A memorial Mass on Sunday began with a projection of the trailer containing the bodies being removed from the industrial estate.

After a minute's silence, Bishop Hudson said the service was to pray for the relations of congregation members who could be among the dead.

He also asked for prayers for the emergency service staff who attended the scene.

Bishop Hudson also sought prayers for traffickers, who he hoped "as a result of this tragedy may have had a change of heart".

About 7% of Vietnam's population class themselves as Catholic, although the figure is higher in the area of the country where many of the missing people come from.

In the past some Catholics have had a fractious relationship with Vietnam's communist government.

Essex Police said it was now in "direct contact with a number of families in Vietnam and the UK" and the Vietnamese Government.

A number of Vietnamese families have previously come forward fearing their loved ones are among the dead.

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, sent her family a message on the night of 22 October - the day before the 39 people were found dead - saying her "trip to a foreign land has failed".

The father of 30-year-old Le Van Ha, who comes from an agricultural part of Vietnam, previously told the BBC he was convinced his son was among the dead.

Post-mortem examinations are being carried out on the 31 men and eight women to establish the cause of their deaths.

The bodies were discovered in the lorry trailer in the early hours of 23 October
The driver of the lorry, Maurice Robinson, from Northern Ireland, appeared in court on Monday charged with a string of offences, including 39 counts of manslaughter.

Extradition proceedings have also begun against 22-year-old Eamonn Harrison, who was arrested in Dubin on a European Arrest Warrant.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50280099
 
Last edited:
The deaths of 39 Vietnamese people in the back of a lorry in Essex should act as a "wake-up call for the government" over its migration policy, MPs say.

A report from the Foreign Affairs Select Committee says the UK's policy of closing borders drives migrants into smugglers' hands.

Committee chair and Tory MP Tom Tugendhat said the UK should "lead by example" on the issue.

The government said tackling human trafficking is a "major priority".

The bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in a lorry trailer on an industrial estate in Grays on 23 October.

Mr Tugendhat, the MP for Tonbridge and Malling, said the incident had "shocked us all".

He said: "The full story won't be clear for some time but this tragedy is not alone.

"Today, hundreds of families across the world are losing loved ones who felt driven to take the fatal gamble to entrust their lives to smugglers.

"This case should serve as a wake-up call to the Foreign Office and to government."

'Return to EU meetings'
The committee's report says the human cost of so-called "irregular" migration - which takes place outside laws, regulations, and agreements - made international partnerships, including with the EU, "essential".

It found UK representatives "have already ceased to attend EU-level meetings where irregular migration is discussed".

The committee called on the government to "urgently resume" its attendance at the meetings during the delay to Brexit and to seek to attend them afterwards "wherever it is possible".

During the 2015 refugee crisis, the UK received asylum applications from just 2% of the 1.4m people on the move.

The UK used two EU deals to keep numbers down: it opted out of an agreement to redistribute refugees and used another rule to send people to other states.

It has a seat in the EU's European Migrant Smuggling Centre, dedicated to gathering intelligence and catching the gangs - and has taken part in naval operations.

But after Brexit, nobody knows if the UK will be allowed to take part in any joint initiatives.

When Helen Wheeler, a foreign office minister, was quizzed by MPs alongside her chief official on Mediterranean migration, she couldn't say if the UK had been at the EU's last key meeting on tackling illegal migration - it hadn't - or whether it would attend the next.

The report finds government agreements to limit irregular migration from certain countries, including Libya, Niger and Sudan, risk "fuelling human rights abuses, and endorsing authoritarian regimes".

The committee adds it is concerned by evidence of "dire conditions" for migrants in northern France, where many of those intending to reach the UK gather.

It says the government's focus on security at ports there "has pushed migrants to take more dangerous routes" to the UK.

One witness tells the committee that enhanced security had led to an increase in people trying to get to Britain on small boats across the English Channel.

The committee also says the government should consider "wider, interlinked factors" driving irregular migration "including climate change, conflict, repressive governance and corruption - rather than focusing narrowly on reducing the numbers reaching Europe's borders in the short term".

Other recommendations include the expansion of legal pathways to apply for asylum outside Europe.

A government spokesperson said: "Tackling the scourge of human trafficking at every stage of the migrant journey - overseas, at our borders and in the UK - is a major priority.

"The UK does this by addressing irregular migration, from reducing factors driving migration - conflict, instability and poverty - to strengthening border security and counter-trafficking operations.

"The UK government and law enforcement agencies work extensively with international partners, key transit countries, and the nations of origin to stand up to this global criminal industry that perpetuates human suffering."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50283423
 
Eight suspects have been held in Vietnam after 39 people were found dead in a lorry in Essex.

The arrests came as a team of Vietnamese officials arrived in Britain to help formally identify the 31 men and eight women.

The suspects are being held in relation to people smuggling offences, the director of police in the Nghe An province in north-central Vietnam said.

Two people were arrested in the Ha Tinh province of Vietnam last week.

The victims were discovered in a refrigerated lorry trailer on an industrial estate in Grays on 23 October.

On Friday, Essex Police said all 39 people were believed to be Vietnamese.

The force initially said it believed they were Chinese.

Essex Police said it was now in "direct contact with a number of families in Vietnam and the UK" and the Vietnamese Government.

A spokeswoman for the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the incident a "serious humanitarian tragedy".

Post-mortem examinations are being carried out on the victims to establish the cause of their deaths.

More than 100 people attended a service for the victims at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in east London on Saturday evening.

The driver of the lorry, Maurice Robinson, from Northern Ireland, appeared in court last week charged with a string of offences, including 39 counts of manslaughter.

Extradition proceedings have also begun against 22-year-old Eamonn Harrison, who was arrested in Dublin on a European Arrest Warrant.

Police are also seeking two brothers from Northern Ireland, Ronan and Christopher Hughes, who are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and people trafficking.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50286696
 
A man has been arrested after 15 people were found in the back of a lorry that had stopped on a major road.

The suspect was detained on suspicion of assisting illegal entry to the UK, after the lorry was spotted near Chippenham, Wiltshire.

Emergency crews were called to the scene and the A350 was closed near to junction 17 of the M4.

A member of the public alerted Wiltshire Police to suspicious activity at about 20:30 GMT.

The lorry was later driven away from the scene by officers, BBC journalist Andrew Plant confirmed.

Skip Twitter post by @BeebJournalistEnd of Twitter post by @BeebJournalist
The force said in a statement: "Officers attended the scene and located 15 people in the rear of the vehicle.

"At this early stage of our investigation, we believe they are all over the age of 16."

"Colleagues from the ambulance and the fire service attended the scene and carried out initial medical checks."

Of those people found in the lorry, 14 have been taken into custody and one person has been taken to hospital for further medical examination, although their condition is not thought to be serious.

"A road closure has been put in place on the A350 at the Kington Langley crossroads while the lorry is recovered," the force continued.

"In addition, one man, aged in his 50s, has been arrested on suspicion of assisting with illegal entry and taken to Swindon custody for further questioning."
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-wiltshire-50326904.
 
The identities of 39 people found dead in a refrigerated lorry have all been formally identified, police said.

Essex Police had been working with Vietnamese officials to identify the 31 men and eight women found dead in Grays, Essex, on 23 October.

A series of files have been handed to Essex senior coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray.

The force said it wanted to give families time to take in the news before making the names public.

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Smith said identification was "an important step" in the investigation.

Extradition proceedings
The bodies were found on the Waterglade Industrial Estate after the container had travelled to nearby Purfleet from Zeebrugge, in Belgium.

The driver of the lorry, Maurice Robinson, from Northern Ireland, appeared in court last week charged with a number of offences, including 39 counts of manslaughter.

Extradition proceedings have also begun against 22-year-old Eamonn Harrison, who was arrested in Dublin on a European Arrest Warrant.

Police are also seeking two brothers from Northern Ireland, Ronan and Christopher Hughes, who are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and people trafficking.

There have been 11 arrests in two province's of Vietnam in relation to the deaths.

The victims came from provinces including Haiphong, Hai Duong, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Hue, according to Vietnamese police.

Assistant Chief Constable Smith said: "It is only right that we provide an opportunity for family members to take in the news confirming the death of their loved ones before releasing any further information.

"Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of those whose tragic journey ended on our shores."

The Reverend Simon Nguyen, who led the service, said the victims lost their lives "seeking freedom, dignity and happiness"
A service was held in memory of the victims at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in east London on Saturday evening.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50333559
 
The names of all 39 Vietnamese nationals who were found dead in a refrigerated lorry in Essex have been released by police.

Ten teenagers, including two 15-year-old boys, were among the victims.

Their bodies were found in a lorry trailer in an industrial park in Grays on 23 October.

Essex coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said: "May I take this opportunity to offer my deepest condolences to the victims' families."

Assistant Chief Constable Tim Smith said: "This was an incredibly important process and our team has been working hard to bring answers to worried families who fear their loved one may be among those whose tragic journey ended on our shores.

"Our priority has been to identify the victims, to preserve the dignity of those who have died and to support the victims' friends and families."

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, sent her family a message on the night of 22 October - the day before the 39 people were found dead - saying she could not breathe and her "trip to a foreign land has failed".

Le Minh Tuan, the father of 30-year-old Le Van Ha, who comes from an agricultural part of Vietnam, previously told the BBC he was convinced his son was among the dead.

Analysis
By Danny Shaw, BBC home affairs correspondent

The process of identifying those who died in the container has taken just over two weeks.

An Identification Commission, overseen by the coroner for Essex, used fingerprints, DNA, dental records and distinctive body markings such as tattoos and scars to confirm the victims' names.

Most of those who died were in their 20s and 30s; there were 10 teenagers; and two were in their early 40s. Eight were women.

All the victims came from central or northern Vietnam.

Police say the authorities are now discussing arrangements for the bodies to be repatriated.

The bodies were found on the Waterglade Industrial Estate in a container which had been shipped to nearby Purfleet from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Lorry driver Maurice Robinson, from Northern Ireland, has appeared in court charged with offences including 39 counts of manslaughter.

Extradition proceedings have also begun against 22-year-old Eamonn Harrison, who was arrested in Dublin on a European Arrest Warrant.

Police are also seeking two brothers from Northern Ireland, Ronan and Christopher Hughes, who are wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and people trafficking.

There have been 11 arrests in two provinces of Vietnam in connection with the deaths.

The victims are:
Pham Thi Tra My, 26-year-old woman from Ha Tinh
Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20-year-old man from Ha Tinh
Nguyen Huy Phong, 35-year-old man from Ha Tinh
Vo Nhan Du, 19-year-old man from Ha Tinh
Tran Manh Hung, 37-year-old man from Ha Tinh
Tran Khanh Tho, 18-year-old man from Ha Tinh
Vo Van Linh, 25-year-old man from Ha Tinh
Nguyen Van Nhan, 33-year-old man from Ha Tinh
Bui Phan Thang, 37-year-old man from Ha Tinh
Nguyen Huy Hung, 15-year-old boy from Ha Tinh
Tran Thi Tho, 21-year-old woman from Nghe An
Bui Thi Nhung, 19-year-old woman from Nghe An
Vo Ngoc Nam, 28-year-old man from Nghe An
Nguyen Dinh Tu, 26-year-old man from Nghe An
Le Van Ha, 30-year-old man from Nghe An
Tran Thi Ngoc, 19-year-old woman from Nghe An
Nguyen Van Hung, 33-year-old man from Nghe An
Hoang Van Tiep, 18-year-old man from Nghe An
Cao Tien Dung, 37-year-old man from Nghe An
Cao Huy Thanh, 37-year-old man from Nghe An
Tran Thi Mai Nhung, 18-year-old woman from Nghe An
Nguyen Minh Quang, 20-year-old man from Nghe An
Le Ngoc Thanh, 44-year-old man from Dien Chau
Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh, 28-year-old woman from Nghe An
Hoang Van Hoi, 24-year-old man from Nghe An
Nguyen Tho Tuan, 25-year-old man from Nghe An
Dang Huu Tuyen, 22-year-old man from Nghe An
Nguyen Trong Thai, 26-year-old man from Nghe An
Nguyen Van Hiep, 24-year-old man from Nghe An
Nguyen Thi Van, 35-year-old woman from Nghe An
Tran Hai Loc, 35-year-old man from Nghe An
Duong Minh Tuan, 27-year-old man from Quang Binh
Nguyen Ngoc Ha, 32-year-old man from Quang Binh
Nguyen Tien Dung, 33-year-old man from Quang, Binh
Phan Thi Thanh, 41-year-old woman from Hai Phong
Nguyen Ba Vu Hung, 34-year-old man from Thua Tien Hue
Dinh Dinh Thai Quyen, 18-year-old man from Hai Phong
Tran Ngoc Hieu, 17-year-old boy from Hai Duong
Dinh Dinh Binh, 15-year-old boy from Hai Phong

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-50350481
 
A man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of 39 people found in the back of a lorry in Essex.

The bodies were found in a refrigerated container in Thurrock on 23 October.

A 23-year-old man from Northern Ireland was detained in the early hours of Friday on the M40 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.

Essex Police said he would be questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

The people found dead, who were from Vietnam, were eight women and 31 men. Ten teenagers, including two 15-year-old boys, were among the victims.

Lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 25, has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter. Three other people who were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people have been released on bail.

Police also started the extradition of a County Down lorry driver at the High Court in Dublin.

Essex Police is seeking the extradition of Eamonn Harrison, 22, a truck driver from Mayobridge, who is being held in the Republic of Ireland.

He appeared at Dublin's Central Criminal Court on Thursday after he was arrested on a European arrest warrant in respect of 39 counts of manslaughter, one count of a human trafficking offence and one count of assisting unlawful immigration.

The court heard that the UK authorities say Mr Harrison drove the truck with the refrigerated container to Zeebrugge in Belgium before it was collected in Essex by Craigavon driver Maurice Robinson.

Mr Robinson, 25, of Laurel Drive, Craigavon, appeared in court in Chelmsford on 28 October.

He will next appear at the Old Bailey in London on Monday.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50516766
 
Lorry driver pleads guilty over role in Essex deaths

A lorry driver charged with the manslaughter of 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in a refrigerated trailer has pleaded guilty to plotting to assist illegal immigration.

Maurice Robinson, 25, who is known as Mo, was allegedly part of a global smuggling ring. He was arrested shortly after the bodies of eight females and 31 males were found in a trailer attached to his Scania cab in an industrial park in Grays, Essex, on 23 October.

The victims were identified later as Vietnamese nationals, with the youngest being two boys aged 15.

Robinson appeared at the Old Bailey in London via video link from Belmarsh prison for a plea hearing. He spoke to confirm his identity and British nationality.

Robinson admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration between 1 May 2018 and 24 October 2019. The charge states that he plotted with others to do “an act or series of acts which facilitated the commission of a breach of immigration law by various persons”.

During the hearing before Mr Justice Edis, Robinson also admitted acquiring criminal property – namely cash – on the same dates. He was not asked to enter pleas to other charges, including 39 counts of manslaughter.

Police formally identified all 39 victims this month and informed their families. It has emerged, however, that relatives of the migrants found dead were told that neither the British nor Vietnamese governments would bear the costs of repatriating the bodies.

Police in Vietnam have arrested eight people suspected of being part of a ring responsible for smuggling Vietnamese people to Britain.

Essex police have launched extradition proceedings to bring Eamonn Harrison, 22, from Ireland to the UK. He appeared at Dublin’s central criminal court last Thursday after he was arrested on a European arrest warrant in respect of 39 counts of manslaughter, one count of a human trafficking offence and one count of assisting unlawful immigration.

Harrison is accused of driving the lorry with the refrigerated container to Zeebrugge in Belgium before it was collected in Essex by Robinson.

Robinson was remanded into custody until a further hearing on 13 December.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/nov/25/lorry-driver-pleads-guilty-in-essex-deaths-case
 
The bodies of 16 Vietnamese people who were found dead in a refrigerated lorry in the UK have arrived back in Vietnam.

They were among 39 migrants - eight women and 31 males, including two boys aged 15 - found in the lorry in Essex on 23 October.

The driver of the lorry, Maurice Robinson, had earlier pleaded guilty to plotting to assist illegal immigration.

The bodies were flown to Hanoi by a commercial flight and will be taken by ambulance to their family homes.

The families are expected to hold funerals and burial ceremonies in the coming days.

The bodies of the remaining victims will be repatriated in the coming days, though a date has not been publicly confirmed.

Repatriation of each body will cost each of the victims' families more than 66.2 million Vietnamese dong ($2,856; £2,204), according to the vice minister of foreign affairs.

The Vietnamese government had offered loans to relatives, though some have said this will only add to the debts they incurred by helping their late relative make the journey to the UK.

Several Vietnamese organisations have helped to raise money for the families of the victims. More than $110,000 has now been crowdfunded to help support the families.

What happened to the victims?
On 23 October, police found the bodies at the back of a refrigerated lorry in the town of Grays in Essex, eastern England.

Police initially believed the victims to be Chinese nationals but it was later revealed that all 39 of them were from Vietnam.

One of the victims, Pham Thi Tra My, had sent distressing messages to her family on the evening of 22 October.

"I am really, really sorry, Mum and Dad, my trip to a foreign land has failed," it read.

"I am dying, I can't breathe. I love you very much Mum and Dad."

Where is the investigation at now?
Mr Robinson has pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to assist illegal immigration between 1 May 2018 and 24 October 2019.

He also admitted to acquiring criminal property - namely cash - during this period of time.

Mr Robinson is accused of being part of a larger plot to bring people into the UK illegally.

Another lorry driver, Christopher Kennedy, has also been charged with plotting with others to traffic illegal immigrants and assist unlawful immigration. He has been remanded until a hearing on 13 December.

Several other people have also been arrested in both the UK and Vietnam.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50568607.
 
The 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in the back of a refrigerated lorry died of lack of oxygen and overheating in an enclosed space, police have said.

Among those in the container on 23 October in Grays, Essex, were 31 men and eight women. The youngest was 15.

Post-mortem examinations listed the provisional causes of death as a combination of hypoxia and hyperthermia, Essex Police said.

Lorry driver Maurice Robinson has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter.

Seven arrests have been made in connection with the deaths across Europe and two more people have been arrested, Essex Police said.

A 22-year-old man was arrested in Northern Ireland on Sunday on suspicion of manslaughter and facilitating unlawful immigration. He is in custody in Essex.

Gheorghe Nica, 43, of Mimosa Close in Langdon Hills, Essex, was detained at Frankfurt Airport on 29 January, Essex Police said.

He was subject of a European Arrest Warrant and appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Saturday charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

He will next appear at the Old Bailey on 16 March.

Eamonn Harrison, 23, of Mayobridge, Northern Ireland, appeared at Dublin's High Court on 4 February and awaits extradition to the UK. He faces 39 charges of manslaughter as well as charges for conspiracy to traffic people and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. He is due to appear at the same court on Wednesday.

Robinson, of Laurel Drive, Craigavon in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, admitted conspiring to assist illegal immigration and acquiring criminal property at the Old Bailey in November. He has not yet entered pleas to the manslaughter counts or conspiracy to commit human trafficking and transferring criminal property.

His co-accused, Christopher Kennedy, 23, from Darkley, County Armagh, denied conspiracy to commit human trafficking offences, assisting unlawful immigration and arranging to facilitate the travel of other people with a view to exploitation.

Detectives want to hear from anyone who has knowledge of two similar journeys that haulage vehicles made into Purfleet on 11 and 18 October 2019. Police believe lorries were used to facilitate the unlawful entry of people into the country via the port.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-51461739
 
A lorry driver has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 39 people who were found dead in the back of a refrigerated container in Essex.

Maurice Robinson, 25, from Craigavon in Northern Ireland, entered his plea at the Old Bailey.

Emergency services discovered the bodies of the Vietnamese nationals at an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, shortly after the lorry arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium in the early hours of October 23 last year.

The men, women and children killed included 10 teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys.

Five men charged after an investigation by Essex Police appeared for a virtual hearing at the Old Bailey before Mr Justice Sweeney.

Robinson had previously admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.

At the hearing on Wednesday, the truck driver also admitted 39 counts of manslaughter on or before October 24 last year.

Robinson, who denied a further charge of transferring criminal property, appeared at court via video link alongside four other co-defendants.

British Romanian Gheorghe Nica, 43, of Mimosa Close in Langdon Hills, denied 39 counts of manslaughter.

The Waterglade Industrial Park where 39 bodies were found in a lorry container

He also denied one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration between May 1 2018 and October 24 2019.

Romanian national Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 27, of Hobart Road in Tilbury, denied a charge of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Christopher Kennedy, 23, of Corkley Road in Darkley, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, has previously denied conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration

Valentin Calota, 37, of Cossington Road in Birmingham, was not asked to enter a plea to the charge of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones QC said a human trafficking conspiracy charge was being dropped in relation to Kennedy and Robinson.

He requested three weeks to decide whether to proceed with a trial against Robinson on the outstanding charge he faced.

The other defendants are scheduled to face a trial at the Old Bailey lasting up to eight weeks from October 5.

The court hearing was conducted virtually with most lawyers and court reporters attending by Skype.

https://news.sky.com/story/essex-lo...-guilty-to-manslaughter-of-39-people-11970610
 
A haulier has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Vietnamese migrants found dead inside a lorry container in Essex last October.

Ronan Hughes, 40, of Co Armagh in Northern Ireland, entered his plea at the Old Bailey.

He was charged with 39 counts of manslaughter after the bodies of 39 Vietnamese men, women and children were found suffocated in the trailer of a lorry on an industrial estate in Grays in the early hours of 23 October 2019.

He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration between 1 May 2018 and 24 October 2019.

Among those discovered in the container were 10 teenagers, the youngest of whom were two 15-year-old boys. The oldest person found deceased was 44.

DNA from families who believed their relatives were victims was used to identify many of them.

An inquest has heard the victims' medical cause of death was asphyxia (a lack of oxygen) and hyperthermia (overheating) in an enclosed space.

Prosecutors alleged Hughes played a leading role by allowing his trailers and drivers to be used in human trafficking, and was one of several men accused of being part of a people-smuggling ring linked to the deaths.

Hughes appeared in the dock alongside Eamonn Harrison, 23, from Mayobridge in Northern Ireland, after both men were extradited from the Republic of Ireland last month.

Harrison is alleged to have driven the lorry trailer to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge before it sailed to Purfleet in England.

He pleaded not guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

In April, lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 25, from Craigavon in Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to the migrants' manslaughter.

In June, Romanian Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 28, from Essex, admitted one count of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration between May 2018 and October 2019.

During Friday's hearing Gazmir Nuzi, 42, from Tottenham, appeared at the Old Bailey by video link and pleaded guilty to a single charge of assisting unlawful immigration on or before 11 October 2019 and 18 April 2020.

Harrison is due to go in trial at the Old Bailey on 5 October with three other defendants.

Gheorghe Nica, 43, from Basildon, has previously denied 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Valentin Calota, 37, from Birmingham, and Christopher Kennedy, 23, from Co Armagh, have denied being part of a people smuggling conspiracy.

Remanding the defendants in custody, Mr Justice Sweeney said the trial would last for five weeks instead of eight.

https://news.sky.com/story/essex-lo...ghter-of-migrants-found-in-container-12058584
 
Essex lorry deaths: Four people jailed in Vietnam

Four people have been jailed in Vietnam for their roles in the death of 39 migrants found in a lorry in Essex, according to state media reports.
The men, women and children were discovered in a refrigerated trailer in Grays on 23 October.
The four defendants were found guilty of "organising, brokering illegal emigration" after a one-day trial in Ha Tinh, VnExpress reported.
The state media outlet said one victim paid $22,000 for the illegal journey.
The four defendants, aged between 24 and 36, were given sentences ranging from two-and-a-half to seven-and-a-half years.
Three others received suspended jail sentences.
'Asphyxia and hyperthermia'
The bodies of the Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate soon after the lorry arrived in the UK on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.
Ten teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys, were among the dead.
An inquest heard their medical cause of death was asphyxia and hyperthermia.
Last month haulier Ronan Hughes, 40, of Tyholland, County Monaghan, admitted manslaughter and conspiring to assist unlawful immigration at the Old Bailey while Eamonn Harrison, 23, of Mayobridge, County Down, denied 39 charges of manslaughter.
Gazmir Nuzi, 42, of Barclay Road, Tottenham, north London, pleaded guilty to a single charge of assisting unlawful immigration on or before 11 October 2019 and 18 April 2020.
Earlier this year, lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 25, of Craigavon, County Armagh, pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Mr Harrison now faces a trial expected to last five weeks starting on 5 October with three others.
Gheorghe Nica, 43, of Langdon Hills, Basildon, Essex, denies 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Valentin Calota, 37, of Birmingham, and Christopher Kennedy, 23, of County Armagh, Northern Ireland, have each denied conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-54149657.
 
An illegal Vietnamese immigrant has told a jury how he was smuggled into the UK in a lorry 10 days before 39 others were found suffocated in the back of a similar trailer in Essex.

The man, who the judge has allowed to remain anonymous in court because of his "anxiety", said his parents paid smugglers up to £40,000 so he could get to Britain and apply for Home Office papers.

The man, in broken English, told the court he flew with a friend to Poland, where he studied for six months, and later travelled to France where a contact arranged for him to wait in a field with others before they were helped into a lorry trailer and driven, via a ferry, to England.

He said his family paid for a "VIP" smuggling service in which the lorry driver knew he was carrying illegal immigrants. He said in an alternative service the driver would not know there were people hidden on board.
 
Two men have been convicted of killing 39 migrants who were found dead in a lorry container in Essex last year.

Eamonn Harrison and Gheorghe Nica stood trial accused of the manslaughter of the Vietnamese nationals whose bodies were discovered at an industrial estate in Grays in October 2019.

Temperatures in the unit had reached an "unbearable" 38.5C (101F) as the men, women and children, aged 15 to 44, were sealed inside for at least 12 hours, the court heard.

They had each paid about £13,000 to be smuggled into the UK and had desperately tried to raise the alarm as they suffocated inside the pitch-black refrigerated unit, which had been switched off, jurors were told.

Following a 10-week trial at the Old Bailey, lorry driver Harrison was found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter, while organiser Nica was convicted of the same charges.

They were also convicted of their part in the people-smuggling operation, along with lorry driver Christopher Kennedy, 24, and Valentin Calota, 38.

Lorry driver Maurice Robinson and haulage boss Ronan Hughes had previously admitted the manslaughter of the migrants.

https://news.sky.com/story/essex-lo...nslaughter-of-39-vietnamese-migrants-12147394
 
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