Thursday, 28 Mar 2024

First picture of woman thought to be among 39 dead in Essex lorry

A human rights group in Hanoi is reporting that a 26-year-old Vietnamese woman is feared to have died in the lorry in Essex.

Her family have voiced fears their daughter was one of the victims after she told them she was ‘dying because I can’t breathe’, the Mirror reports.

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, sent a frantic text message to her mother at around 10:30 p.m. on October 22.

She wrote: ‘I’m sorry Mom, my path to abroad didn’t succeed.

‘I love you and Dad so much! I’m dying because I can’t breathe.’

The family are now appealing for help through a human rights activist in their own country.

Hoa Nghiem of charity Human Rights Space  wrote about the family’s fears on social media and included a picture of the missing woman.

She said: ‘My’s family has asked for help. The person told me there were six other people asking for similar assistance to find out whereabouts of their relatives or family member since they also lost contact since October 23.

‘We don’t know if that would make six cases as we are verifying names. And we don’t know if they are in that Essex truck. We hope they are not.’

Ms Nghiem said that Ms My had gone to China to begin her journey to the UK via France,   in a hope of a better life.

It was earlier reported that those found dead were Chinese nationals.

Ms Nghiem said My’s family were worried because of the timing of the texts and her worrying message.

In a statement, the British embassy in Hanoi said the nationality of the victims had not been confirmed but they were working hard to identify each one.

The statement said: ‘The nationality of the victims has not been confirmed at this stage.

‘The UK authorities are working as fast as possible to identify the victims and inform their families.

‘This is an appalling tragedy and our thoughts and condolences are with the families and friends of all those people who have sadly died.

‘UK authorities will conduct a full and thorough investigation.’

Two more people have been arrested over the deaths of 39 people found in a truck in Essex.

A man and a woman, both aged 38 and from Warrington, Cheshire, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people, police said.

Detectives have also been given an extra 24 hours to quiz Mo Robinson, a 25-year-old truck driver from Northern Ireland.

He was detained after the grim discovery in the back of his refrigerated truck at the Waterglade Industrial estate on Wednesday morning.

Post mortems have now begun on the victims – 31 men and eight women – who are believed to have frozen to death.

This is a breaking news story. More updates to follow 

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