Driver charged with deaths of 39 found in back of lorry as relatives hunt for news of missing loved ones
Young dad among those now feared lost in trailer tragedy as probe continues
Alorry driver has been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter after the bodies of eight women and 31 men were found in a refrigerated trailer.
Maurice Robinson ,25, of Craigavon, Northern Ireland, has also been charged with conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.
A young dad and aspiring nail technician are among the Vietnamese nationals believed to have lost their lives in the trailer of a truck Robinson was driving. It is thought the lorry carrying 39 migrants was part of a convoy of three lorries bringing more than 100 people to the UK. Relatives of Anna Bui Thi Nhung, 19, said she paid £ 8,000 to be taken from Vietnam to the UK to work as a nail technician.
And the family of Nguyen Dinh Tu, whose wife and child remained in Vietnam, fear he was also in the trailer found in Essex. Pictures of missing Vietnamese migrants have been passed to police investigating the deaths.
The Serious Crime Directorate was handed around 20 images obtained from families by community website Viethome.
Police initially believed the 39 dead were Chinese until the family of one missing Vietnamese migrant released their daughter’s text messages.
Pham Thi Tra My, 26, who is under five feet tall, said she was “dying because I can’t breathe” and apologised to her family, who said they paid £ 30,000 for her to be smuggled into the UK. Another family in Vietnam then said their relative may be among the dead. Nguyen Dinh Gia has not spoken to his 20- year- old son Nguyen Dinh Luong since last week when he told his father he was trying to reach the UK by joining a group in Paris.
He said: “He often called home but I haven’t been able to reach him since last week.”
Vietnam’s foreign ministry said in a statement yesterday that it had instructed its London embassy to assist British police with the identification of victims. Police met the country’s UK ambassador yesterday.
Detective Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore, of Essex Police, said officers found “very, very few” papers among the victims.
He said the nationalities of the dead will not be confirmed until investigating officers examine post- mortem evidence. They will attempt to identify the victims using fingerprints and DNA, as well as by looking at distinguishing features such as teeth, tattoos or scars.
He said officers were also trying to establish “whether there is a wider conspiracy involved”.
A priest from a rural rice-growing community in Vietnam said he was in contact with families of missing migrants, and had been told more than 100 people from the impoverished area were travelling to the UK to begin a “new life”.
Father Anthony Dang Huu Nam said it is a “catastrophe” for the remote town of Yen Thanh, 180 miles south of Hanoi. He said: “A few families confirmed the deaths of their relatives who are the victims of this tragic journey.”
The priest led 500 worshippers in prayers for the dead at a service yesterday.
Last night, Irish Police said they had detained a man in his 20s at Dublin Port who was of “interest” to Essex Police as part of its investigation.
On Friday, a 48- year- old man from Northern Ireland was detained at Stansted Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and manslaughter, Essex Police said.
Officers had earlier arrested a couple, named locally as haulage boss Thomas Maher and his wife Joanna, both 38, of Warrington, Cheshire.
In Belgium, police are hunting the driver who delivered the trailer to Zeebrugge, the port it left before arriving in the UK. The prosecutor’s office said Belgian authorities were also working to “track the route of the container” and find anyone responsible for “collaborating with the transport”.