Family’s fears for Vietnam woman
A VIETNAMESE woman is feared to be among 39 migrants found dead in a lorry in Essex.
The family of Pham Tra My, 26, told the BBC they had paid £30,000 for her to be smuggled to Britain, which has now been repaid.
They said they have not been able to contact her since she sent text messages on Tuesday night – around two hours before the refrigerated trailer arrived in the port of Purfleet – saying she was suffocating.
“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.”
Her brother told the broadcaster: “My sister went missing on October 23 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.”
An international investigation is under way after eight women and 31 men were discovered in a refrigerated trailer in Grays in the early hours of Wednesday.
The driver of the truck, named locally as 25-year-old Mo Robinson, from Northern Ireland, remains in custody after he was held on suspicion of murder.
A couple named locally as Thomas Maher and his wife Joanna, both 38, were arrested on suspicion of 39 counts of manslaughter and people trafficking yesterday.
The previous day, they claimed to have sold the Bulgarian-registered Scania lorry cab, that picked up the trailer in Purfleet, to a company in Ireland. Mrs Maher, who is reportedly the last known owner of the vehicle, told MailOnline: “We did own it but sold it 13 months ago.”
Police officers could be seen at the couple’s home address in Warrington, with a police van and two squad cars parked outside.
Officers carried evidence bags inside the four-bedroom property, which had two grey Range Rovers with personalised number plates and a white Chevrolet sports car parked on the drive.
The house was bought by the couple, originally from southern Ireland, for £255,000 in March 2017, according to Land Registry records, before the couple undertook extensive renovations on the property, according to neighbours.
Locals said Mr Maher is the owner of a haulage firm and his wife works as a hairdresser. They said they have three teenage children, two boys aged 18 and 11 and a 15-year-old girl, and enjoy numerous foreign holidays, including trips to Mexico and long cruises.
Police have not confirmed whether the driver raised the alarm after finding the bodies. It is not yet known when the victims entered the sealed refrigerated trailer, where temperatures can be as low as -25C, or the exact route it travelled.