The 39 people found dead in a refrigerated truck in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday near London, UK, are believed to be Chinese citizens. This is what the British media announce, two days after the tragedy. In response, representatives of the Chinese Embassy in the country announced that they were visiting the scene. "Staff from the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom goes to the scene to conduct checks," said the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on social networks.
>> READ ALSO - "It does not make sense": in Grays, the shock after the discovery of 39 bodies in a refrigerated truck
The macabre discovery was made on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. Just before 1:40 am, the English police are alerted by the emergency services of the presence of a truck containing 39 bodies lifeless, in an industrial area in Grays, Essex, about thirty kilometers east of London and near the port of Purfleet, on the Thames. There were eight women, including one teenager, and 31 men, according to a statement.
The driver of the truck still in custody
According to the police, the container arrived at midnight and Wednesday at Purfleet from Zeebrugge, Belgium. The truck, which towed the container, registered in Bulgaria, had left Northern Ireland. "For the moment, it is not yet known when the victims were placed in the container and if it happened in Belgium," said the Belgian federal prosecutor in a statement. The survey will focus "on the organizers and all other people involved in this transport".
Two searches took place in Northern Ireland the following night. The 25-year-old truck driver from that province was kept in police custody after being arrested in a murder investigation. The BBC aired the testimony of a local taxi driver, who reports seeing trucks stop in the area and disembark migrants. "They arrive, they do not speak English, they give you a phone, you have someone on the other end of the line who asks you to bring them to an address, usually to London," he said.
Calls to strengthen the fight against smugglers
Since this macabre discovery, the calls to reinforce the fight against the chains of illegal immigration, which according to the British police employ methods more and more risky with the reinforcement of controls, multiply.
This drama is reminiscent of another, which dates back to June 2000, when 58 Chinese stowaways were found dead asphyxiated in a truck in the port of Dover. In August 2015, 71 migrants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan on their way to Western Europe had died in a refrigerated truck in Austria.