"He told me that he would only go on a 'VIP package', in a private car," she said. Read about our approach to external linking. [82], UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet that he was "appalled" at the incident, giving his thoughts to the victims and their families, adding that the Home Office was working alongside Essex Police on the case. A port worker who drove the trailer off the ship later reported noticing a pungent smell that was "similar to waste". His loss is so sudden for us. Each passenger paid smugglers between 10,000 and 13,000 to be brought from northern France. He was immediately released having already served his sentence in custody. [91], In an editorial headlined, "The UK must bear responsibility," the Global Times, a state-run newspaper, said that the responsibility for the deaths lay with Britain and other European countries. Det Ch Insp Daniel Stoten said: "May this serve as a warning to those who think it's OK to prey on the vulnerabilities of migrants and their families, transporting them in a way worse than we would transport animals. Nine people have so far been convicted of crimes related to the incident in the UK and a further nineteen have been jailed in Belgium. Among those killed was a married couple - Tran Hai Loc and Nguyen Thi Van. Investigations are being led by Essex Police, and involve the national authorities of the UK, Belgium, Ireland and Vietnam. Later, before the trailer was loaded on to a ferry, the driver had opened the doors and told them to "keep quiet all the time" and stand in the middle of the trailer and hold on to each other. Following a 10-week trial in 2020, Northern Irish lorry driver Eamonn Harrison was found guilty of 39 counts of manslaughter, while Romanian organiser Gheorghe Nica was convicted of the same charges. "This time, they simply had too many people on board," he told the Old Bailey. "[64], in July 2022, Essex Police released an image of a man who is wanted in connection with the deaths. A father of one of the deceased said he was given two options: having the ashes returned for 41,100,000 Vietnam dong (1,470) or receiving the body for 66,240,000 Vietnam dong (2,209). Every person in that trailer had left behind a family. Ten teenagers including two 15-year-old boys were among the 39 people found dead in a lorry . [26] Names, ages and hometowns were released on 8 November; 20 were from Ngh An Province, 10 from H Tnh, 4 from Haiphong, 3 from Qung Bnh, 1 from Din Chu District and 1 from Tha Thin-Hu. Hughes, of County Monaghan, Ireland, and Robinson, who took the initial 999 call had previously admitted manslaughter. Harrison, of Newry, County Down, claimed he did not know there were people in the trailer when he towed it to the Belgian port, and that he watched "a wee bit of Netflix" in bed as they were loaded on. Eamonn Harrison, a lorry driver from Northern Ireland, who dropped the trailer off at Zebrugge, and Gheorghe Nica, the coordinator of the smuggling operation, from Romania, were found guilty of manslaughter. They had all paid huge sums of money to reach Britain in search of a better life - paying up to 13,000 each. Murder detectives try to identify 38 adults and teenager thought to have come in trailer from Belgium. [45], On 1 November, a man from Northern Ireland was re-arrested in the holding cells of the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin following the execution of a European Arrest Warrant issued in the UK. ", "Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on October 25, 2019", Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, "CNN slammed for rushing to attack China in report of UK lorry death", "China says identity of victims still being confirmed", "PM orders investigation into overseas trafficking of Vietnamese citizens", "Essex lorry deaths: Vietnam condemns 'human trafficking', "Vietnam offers loans to families to return bodies", "Vietnam offers grieving families loans to return bodies", "Fundraisers help send Vietnam's lorry dead home", "Essex lorry deaths: All victims' bodies back in Vietnam", Young Vietnamese workers risking life and death on 'the line' to Europe, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Essex_lorry_deaths&oldid=1120801721, October 2019 events in the United Kingdom, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 8 November 2022, at 22:09. [89], In October 2021, the BBC broadcast the hour-long documentary Hunting the Essex Lorry Killers. His father, Hoang Van Lanh, believed his son was tricked, possibly at the last moment. I want to come back to my family. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk, Man sentenced over lorry deaths smuggling ring, Lorry deaths driver 'blind to smuggling risks', Dad learned of son's lorry death via social media, Two found guilty of killing 39 migrants in lorry, Irish smuggling connection to Essex lorry deaths, The supposed 'VIP' journey that killed 39 people, Police release CCTV of missing Essex man not seen for month, Great Oaks, Basildon, closed by police after incident, Clacton Railway Club to host memorial darts tournament, Southend and District Badminton Association week 11, Street light switch-off plan not safe and not sensible, Basildon Eastgate sees worker suffer 'serious injuries' in fall, German police deny Greta's detainment was staged, Iran man who beheaded wife jailed for eight years, Maximum two drinks a week, Canada guidance advises. In the weeks before the tragic journey, the gang, led by Hughes and Nica, organised at least two other journeys smuggling Vietnamese migrants packed into the back of lorries into the UK. All of the paramedics who attended that night were offered "enhanced support" from the service's well-being team in the aftermath, she said. "I don't know what happened but something must have changed in their plan, or he was scammed," he said. [48], On 4 November, Vietnamese police arrested eight suspects in the central province of Ngh An in connection with the smuggling ring. While the migrants were detained by the French authorities, the driver Christopher Kennedy was allowed to continue on his way to Kent. Detectives believe the vehicle was travelling from Bulgaria and entered the UK three days ago via Holyhead in north Wales, one of the main port for ferries from Ireland. [92][93] The question was then further criticised by Chinese media after the victims were found not to be Chinese. [1][4], The lorry cab and the trailer arrived separately in Purfleet, Essex, from where they travelled together the short distance to Grays. Who was Ukrainian minister Denys Monastyrsky? Belgian officials said the eight women . It came to light that the 31 men and eight women - including a 15-year-old child - had died in sweltering temperatures in the lorry's sealed container as they were shipped from Zeebrugge to Purfleet. [11] The police suspect that an Irish people-smuggling ring which has been under investigation for around a year might be involved. The victims had used a metal pole to try to punch through the roof but only managed to dent the interior. Robinson, of Craigavon, County Armagh, returned to his cab before driving off and making his first call to Hughes. "It was a bit of a shock but we're not 100 per cent sure of what's happened.". a recent documentary into the deaths revealed. Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Stoten, who led the investigation, described how one single fingerprint found in another one of Hughes' lorries was "gold dust", leading to another man who made the same journey a week before. THE 39 migrants who died in the back of a lorry trailer in Essex left bloody handprints on the inside doors of the metal container, it has been reported. The ambulance service informed Essex Police, who arrived shortly afterwards. He got out of the cab, went to the rear of the trailer and opened the doors. Read about our approach to external linking. Along with lorry driver Eamonn Harrison, 23, he has been found guilty of manslaughter. In addition, Valentin Calota from Birmingham and Christopher Kennedy, from County Armagh, were found guilty of immigration offences. On 11 October, about 15 migrants made the journey across the channel, though in a different trailer to the one in which the 39 died. [62], In June 2021 Italian authorities and the National Crime Agency arrested a 27-year-old Romanian man near Milan in connection with the deaths, charging him with conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence. "And finding out at the very last minute, and realising as you die, that the VIP service was a terrible lie, is exactly what you see from these organised crime groups. We've just seen what has been said online. Emailwebnews@trinitymirror.com. Communicating on the messaging app Viber, Phong agreed to arrange the trip for Witness X for 13,000. On Saturday afternoon, Essex Police provided a fresh update revealing at the 25-year-old lorry driver had now been charged. Robinson, Harrison, Hughes and Nica were all jailed for manslaughter in January this year, receiving jail sentences of up to 27 years. On the morning of October 23, 2019, the bodies of 39 Vietnamese men, women and children were discovered dead in the back of a lorry in Grays, Essex. His boss, Hughes, had messaged him: "Give them air quickly don't let them out.". What led to her and 38 fellow Vietnamese nationals dying in the dark and sweltering heat of an airtight container? [34] British police had also searched two properties in Northern Ireland. Chilling records of his call revealed his unnervingly calm revelation of the dead bodies to the ambulance service. [88] The first part was broadcast on 4 November after re-editing in the light of the 39 deaths, despite the Home Office describing the timing as "both insensitive and irresponsible". [42] A Belgian public prosecutor said that this was the lorry driver they had been searching for, who had been seen on CCTV ten times at Zeebrugge while dropping off the refrigerated trailer. Image: Police and forensics at the crime scene in Grays, Essex, in October 2019 The victims died from suffocation and hyperthermia in the confined space of the truck, which arrived on a ferry from . [66][67] On 8 April 2020, he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the 39 victims. Earlier this month, Gazmir Nuzi, 43, of Barclay Road, Tottenham, north London, was sentenced, having admitted his limited role in the people-smuggling operation. They died excruciatingly slow deaths, the judge said, of asphyxia and hyperthermia, or overheating. It was accepted he was not a member of the organised crime group behind the smuggling operation. Some wanted to work in nail salons while one of the 15-year-olds who died said he would find work in an illegal cannabis farm. [77] Sentencing hearings for all eight guilty men are expected in January 2021. [28], On 29 October, Essex Police announced that two brothers from Armagh, Northern Ireland, one of whom owned the haulage company operating the lorry cab detained at Grays, were wanted on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking offences related to the incident. When Witness X finally arrived in the UK, he and the other migrants were met by a fleet of black cars at Orsett Farm, in Orsett, Essex. We were struggling to give our children a proper education. Post-mortem examinations found they died of overheating and a lack of oxygen. He said on the fatal trip the temperature had been rising along with the carbon dioxide levels throughout, hitting 40C (104F) while the container was at sea on 22 October 2019. Nica claimed he told Robinson not to move the trailer and to call 999. Temperatures in the unit had reached an "unbearable" 38.5C (101F) as the migrants were sealed inside for at least 12 hours, the court heard. [69] Judge Burns remanded the accused until 12 June 2020, when Ireland's High Court ordered his extradition to the UK. 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people from China, the world's second-biggest economy, risk their lives to enter the UK? 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