UK: 39 dead in cold lorry were Chinese nationals

The victims were discovered in a container on the back of a truck in Grays, east of London, on Wednesday, shortly after arriving by ferry from Belgium.

The 39 people found dead in a cold storage lorry on Wednesday morning in Essex were on Thursday identified as Chinese nationals, while its 25-year-old lorry driver from Northern Ireland remains in custody.

A police officer wipes the wing mirror of a truck that was found to contain a large number of dead bodies. (AP Photo)

“We have confirmed that eight of the deceased are women and 31 are men and all are believed to be Chinese nationals. We arrested a man on suspicion of murder”, the Essex police said in a statement.

Releasing details, the police said the tractor unit of the lorry had entered the country via Holyhead on October 20, having travelled over from Dublin. It then collected the trailer, which had travelled from Zeebrugge, at the port of Purfleet on October 23.

The police said each of the 39 people must undergo a full coroner’s process to establish a cause of death, adding that investigations continue with partners and law enforcement agencies to establish how the 39 people died.

“This process will be complex and lengthy, as well as incredibly challenging for all those involved, but we will not stop until we get answers for the loved ones of those who have sadly died”, it added.

There have been several instances of people being smuggled into the UK in container lorries, in which some suffocate to death. In August 2014, a group of 35 Afghan Sikhs was found in a shipping container in Essex. They later claimed asylum in the UK.

James Brokenshire, the then immigration and security minister, said the incident was a “reminder of the often devastating human consequences of illegal migration. We know that criminal gangs are involved in what amounts to a brutal trade in human lives”.

In 2000, 58 Chinese men and women were found suffocated in a lorry that had arrived in Dover from Calais. Next year, eight illegal migrants died in a shipping container which had been unloaded at an industrial estate in Wexford in Ireland after a crossing from Zeebrugge.