UK police say truck victims from Vietnam; 3 suspects held

Floral tributes at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Thurrock, Essex, England Thursday Oct. 24, 2019 the day after 39 bodies were found inside a truck on the industrial estate.  (PA via AP)

LONDON  — All 39 people found dead in a refrigerated container truck in England last week were Vietnamese nationals, British police said Friday, as three more people were arrested in Ireland and Vietnam in the sprawling international investigation into what appears to be a people-smuggling tragedy.

British detectives initially said the victims discovered near the southeast port of Purfleet on Oct. 23 were from China, but families from Vietnam have contacted authorities there with concerns for missing relatives.

Essex Police Assistant Chief Constable Tim Smith said Friday that “at this time, we believe the victims are Vietnamese nationals, and we are in contact with the Vietnamese government.”

He said police think they have traced the relatives of some of the dead.

“It’s a serious tragedy. We are deeply sorry and want to send condolences to families of the victims,” said Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang.

She said the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and British police were working together to further identify the victims and will soon announce the results.

“Vietnam strongly condemn human trafficking activities, considering it’s a serious crime and must be accordingly punished,” she said in a statement.

She said Vietnam calls on other countries in the region and in the world to strengthen activities to avoid “such a painful tragedy.”

“We hope the British authorities can soon conclude the investigation of the case and punish those who are responsible for this tragedy,” she said.

British police have charged 25-year-old Maurice Robinson, from Northern Ireland, with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. They say he drove the cab of the truck to Purfleet, where it picked up the container, which had arrived by ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Another man was arrested Friday in Ireland, and two others in Vietnam.

The two, suspected of organizing a people-smuggling operation in Vietnam, were arrested in Ha Tinh province following reports from 10 families there of missing relatives, VTV television reported.

Col. Nguyen Tien Nam, deputy chief of Ha Tinh provincial police, was quoted as saying the suspects were directly involved in the case in which people paid smugglers to be taken to England and are now feared to be among the bodies found in the container.

Police said the suspects had been organizing people smuggling in the area for several years.

In Ireland, a 22-year-old man was arrested on a British warrant. Essex Police said they had started extradition proceedings to bring him to the U.K. to face charges of manslaughter.

A spokesman for the Dublin High Court said Eamonn Harrison, of Newry in Northern Ireland, appeared in court Friday. He was ordered detained until a hearing on Nov. 11.

British officials have stepped up patrols in Purfleet and announced an agreement with Belgium to allow more British immigration officers to be based in Zeebrugge.

British police on Friday asked two other suspects, Northern Irish brothers Ronan and Christopher Hughes, to turn themselves in. Police said they had already spoken to Ronan Hughes by telephone but want to talk to the two in person.