Authorities charge truck driver on 39 counts of manslaughter

LONDON — British authorities charged a 25-yearold truck driver Saturday with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people following the discovery of 39 bodies in the back of a sealed truck in southeastern England.

Five people were being questioned by police, including the truck driver and three people who were arrested Friday on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. Irish police said another man was arrested Saturday.

British police said they have removed all the bodies from the truck and are awaiting autopsies. Identifying the victims is expected to be difficult and officials said few documents were found with the bodies. Smugglers normally take the passports of their passengers to obscure their identities, stripping them of their names and giving them new documents when they arrive at their destinations.

Police initially believed the victims were Chinese but later acknowledged that details were still evolving. The Vietnamese government also announced its own investigation into the deaths and set up a hotline for families.

That comes after attention shifted to Vietnam on Friday, when the family of a Vietnamese woman released text messages suggesting she had suffocated in the truck. Relatives of Pham Tra My, 26, told the BBC they had been unable to contact her since receiving a text Tuesday night saying she was suffocating.

“I’m so sorry mom and dad. My journey abroad doesn’t succeed,” she wrote. “Mom, I love you and dad very much. I’m dying because I can’t breathe. Mom, I’m so sorry.”