Relatives of Vietnamese truck victims speak out

DREAD mounted across Vietnam on Sunday as relatives of migrants feared to be among 39 people found dead in a truck in Britain revealed new heart-wrenching details of their last contact with their loved ones.

The driver of the refrigerated trailer discovered in an industrial park on Wednesday has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and people trafficking in a case that has shocked Britain and cast light on the extreme dangers facing illegal migrants seeking better lives in Europe.

It is now believed t hat t he majorit y of the v ictims are of Vietnamese origin. The 31 men and eight women were initia lly believed to be Chinese, but severa l Vietnamese families have now come for ward with fears t heir relatives are among t he dead.

“I now have information of 21 family members and acquaintances of people who have gone ‘missing’,” Britain’s Guardian quoted Pham Van Nho, who is helping police identify the victims, as having said.

Many are believed to have come from impoverished villages in central Vietnam, where some families now fear the worst.

Le Minh Tuan has not heard from his son Le Van Ha since a message on Facebook around a week ago saying: “I’m about to board a car to Britain. I will contact the family when

I arrive in England, Dad”.

That was two days before the refrigerated trailer stuffed with bodies was discovered in Essex, east of London.

“We’ve heard no news from him since,” Tuan said, his eyes red from crying.

“For sure he was in that lorry. I just want my son’s [body] back home,” he said in Yen Hoi village, Nghe An province.

The 30-year-old left his two young sons and wife in Vietnam in June, travelling to Turkey then Greece and France en route to the UK.

Ha hoped to find work to pay back $30,000 paid to smugglers to get him to Europe, and another $8,500 loan to build the family home.

“He wanted to go to pay the debts . . . and send money back to his kids so they would have a better life,” said his father, clinging to his grandson and weeping.

Nearby, the mother of missing 28-year-old man Vo Ngoc Nam said she had not yet heard anything on the fate of her son, who had been working in Romania and planned to travel to Britain.

“I have been waiting anxiously over the past few days for any news from him, but we got nothing,” the stricken mother said.

NGO Human Rights Space told the Viet Nam News that at least seven families had contacted them after the bodies were discovered. Its founder tweeted a message from one of the victims to her mother while she was still inside the lorry.

Her final message read: “I’m sorry Mom. My journey abroad was not successful. Mom, I love you so much! I’m dying because I can’t breathe . . . I’m from Nghen, Can Loc, Ha Tinh, Vietnam . . . I am sorry, Mom.”

The message is believed to have been sent by Pham Thi Tra, 26, who harboured ambitions of becoming a nail technician when she arrived in the UK.

Villagers planned to gather for Sunday mass later in the day to pray for the 39 victims.

Central Vietnam is a common feeder for illegal migrants chasing promises of riches overseas. Many end up working in Britain illegally in nail bars or on cannabis farms, heavily indebted and subject to exploitation.

Five people have so far been arrested in Britain in connection with the incident, the country’s largest murder probe since the 2005 London suicide bombings.

Vietnam’s ambassador to the UK, Tran Ngoc An, visited police investigating the case on Saturday and also spoke on the phone with British Minister of Interior Priti Patel, the embassy said.

Essex police say they want to fast-track the process of fingerprint identification and DNA testing, but said it would take time.