39 bodies in truck container identified as Chinese nationals
Eight of the dead are women, including a young woman police initially said was a teenager, and 31 are men, police said.
LONDON – The 39 people found dead in the back of a truck in England were Chinese nationals, police said Thursday.
The truck and its trailer, which are believed to have entered the country separately, were found by ambulance workers at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays on Wednesday. Grays is about 20 miles east of London.
All 39 people found were pronounced dead at the scene. Eight of the dead are women, including a young woman police initially said was a teenager, and 31 are men, police said.
Essex Police said 25-year-old truck driver Mo Robinson from Portadown, Northern Ireland, was arrested and was still being held.
British police have raided three properties in Northern Ireland amid the investigation.
The truck and the trailer apparently took separate circuitous journeys before ending up at the industrial park.
Detectives said the trailer containing the victims arrived at the port of Purfleet from Zeebrugge, Belgium, around 12:30 a.m. local time Wednesday. The front section to which it was attached entered the country via Holyhead, Wales, on Sunday from Dublin and is believed to be from Northern Ireland.
Both the cab and trailer left Purfleet shortly after 1:05 a.m. Wednesday, and police were called less than an hour later after the bodies were discovered.
Police originally said they believed the truck’s trailer may be from Bulgaria. The country’s foreign ministry confirmed the truck was registered in Bulgaria under a company owned by an Irish citizen.
Global Trailer Rentals Ltd. confirmed Thursday that it owns the refrigerated trailer, Ireland’s RTE reported, citing a company spokesperson.
The trailer was leased Oct. 15 from the company’s Monaghan location for roughly $300 a week until its return. The company’s trailers have GPS trackers, and it said it would share that information with police.
The company also said in a statement that it was “entirely unaware that the trailer was to be used in the manner in which it appears to have been” and that its staff is “shellshocked” and “gutted,” RTE reported.
Irish authorities have said they are cooperating with the investigation and probing the registrations and movements of the container and truck.
Robinson has not yet been charged with any offense, and Essex Police, who typically have 48 hours to question a suspect arrested on suspicion of murder, were granted an extension to keep him in custody for an additional day.
The truck was driven from the industrial site Wednesday evening to a secure area of the Port of Tilbury, where police were expected to remove the bodies.