The last remains of the 39 Vietnamese who died while being smuggled in a truck to England last month were repatriated to their home country yesterday.

Photos by the official Vietnam News Agency showed the arrival at Hanoi airport of 16 bodies and seven urns, which had been flown from London.

They were loaded into ambulances on a foggy morning for a trip to their home towns in several provinces in northern and central Vietnam.

The bodies were found on October 23 in Grays, east of London. Police said the victims were aged between 15 and 44. While no cause of death has been officially established, the circumstances suggested asphyxiation.

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The 31 men and eight women are believed to have paid human traffickers for their clandestine transit. Several suspects have been arrested in the UK and Vietnam.

Lorry driver Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson, from Northern Ireland, has admitted conspiring with others to assist illegal immigration and acquiring criminal property – namely cash – all between May 1, 2018 and October 24, 2019. Robinson was not asked to plead to 39 charges of manslaughter and has been remanded in custody pending another hearing on December 13.

Shortly after noon yesterday, the body of one victim, 19-year-old Bui Thi Nhung, arrived at Phu Tang church in the village of Do Thanh.

More than 100 Catholic villagers and family members waited for the body’s arrival at a road leading to the village. They held white flowers, standing by the side of the road as the ambulance carrying the body passed.

After 15 minutes at the church, the mourners moved to Nhung’s home nearby. One of her nieces held her portrait to lead the procession.

Nhung’s coffin was placed in the middle of the living room of the one-storey house, with the family weeping by the sides. Relatives and neighbours came into the home to place incense.

A funeral will be held for Nhung at her home today, followed by a ceremony at the church before the burial.

An initial batch of 16 bodies were handed over to their families last Wednesday, and funerals were held the following day.

The impoverished villages the victims hailed from have largely been left out of the economic development that has turned urban centres in Vietnam such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi into boom towns, sending many on a risky journey looking for a better life abroad.

©Associated Press

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