Vietnamese police arrest eight people over the deaths of 39 migrants in the back of a refrigerated lorry found in Essex
- Vietnam police chief says force will ‘actively launch investigations to fight rings’
- On Friday, Vietnam’s police arrested two and summoned others for questioning
- Arrests follow discovery of 39 bodies in a lorry in Grays, Essex, on October 23
- Essex Police said on Friday that it now believes all the victims were Vietnamese
Published:02: (EST, 4 November)|Updated: 02: 53 EST, 4 November 2019
Police in Vietnam have arrested eight people over the discovery of 39 bodies in a lorry in Essex, state media revealed today.
Nguyen Huu Cau, the Nghe An province police chief, told the Vietnam News Agency: ‘Based on what we learn from the suspects, we will actively launch investigations to fight and eradicate these rings which bring people illegally to Britain . ‘
On Friday, Vietnamese police arrested two people and summoned others for questioning on suspicion of involvement in the incident following the discovery on October 23.
The lorry and a police tent at the Waterglade Indu strial Park in Grays, Essex, on October 23
Funeral directors’ vehicles enter the Port of Tilbury to collect the bodies of the 39 people found inside the lorry to transport them to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford on October 25
It comes after MPs in London said the ‘tragic’ deaths should be a ‘wake up call for the Government’ to rethink its approach to illegal migration.
The Foreign Affairs Select Committee warned a policy focused on closing borders will drive migrants to dangerous routes and push them into the hands of smugglers.
The committee said the human cost of so-called ‘irregular’ migration made international partnerships, including with the EU, ‘essential’ .
On Saturday, members of the Vi etnamese community gathered for a vigil at the Church of the Holy Name and Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in East London.
(More than 100 people gathered as candles arranged to read ’39 ‘were at the foot of the altar at the Catholic church, which has a large Vietnamese congregation.
The priest of the Vietnamese Catholic Cathedral in East London, Father Simon Thang Duc Nguyen, performs the service at the mass prayer and vigil for the 39 victims on Saturday
Candles laid out as part of the mass prayer and vigil ceremony in East London on Saturday
Reverend Simon Nguyen said: ‘We show our condolences and sympathies for the people who have lost their lives on the way seeking freedom, dignity and happiness.
‘We ask God to welcome them into his kingdom even though some of them were not Catholic but they strongly believed in eternal peace, so we pray for them.’
On Friday, Essex Police announced that it believed all the victims were Vietnamese after previously stating it was thought they were Chinese.
A spokesman for Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the incident a ‘serious humanitarian tragedy’ in a statement on Saturday.
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