The Guardian :
A murder investigation has been launched after 39 bodies were found inside a lorry from Bulgaria on an industrial estate in Essex, east of London.
A 25-year-old driver, from Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The victims, found at the Waterglade industrial park in Grays, were all adults apart from one teenager, Essex police said.
The force said the lorry was believed to be from Bulgaria but entered the country in Holyhead, the Welsh port town that serves Ireland.
The home secretary, Priti Patel, said Home Office immigration officials were working closely with the police to establish what happened, while the National Crime Agency (NCA), which has a remit to investigate organised immigration crime as well as human trafficking, said it was looking into whether organised crime groups might have played a role in the tragedy.
Police officers were called by the ambulance service shortly before 1.40am on Wednesday after the discovery of a container with people inside at the industrial park in Eastern Avenue.
Ch Supt Andrew Mariner of Essex police said: “This is a tragic incident where a large number of people have lost their lives. Our inquiries are ongoing to establish what has happened.
“We are in the process of identifying the victims. However I anticipate that this could be a lengthy process.
“We believe the lorry is from Bulgaria and entered the country at Holyhead on Saturday 19 October and we are working closely with our partners to investigate.
“We have arrested the lorry driver in connection with the incident who remains in police custody as our inquiries continue. I appreciate this cordon is going to disrupt the activity of local businesses in the area and we will work to ensure that disruption is kept as short as possible.
“We are working with Thurrock council to mitigate against any impact our investigation scene will have locally.”
The prime minister said he was “appalled by this tragic incident in Essex”.
“I am receiving regular updates and the Home Office will work closely with Essex police as we establish exactly what has happened,” Boris Johnson tweeted.
Patel said: “I’m shocked and saddened by this utterly tragic incident in Grays. My heart goes out to all those affected.
“Essex police has arrested an individual and we must give them the space to conduct their investigations. Home Office immigration officials will be working closely alongside them to establish how this horrific event came to happen.”
The NCA said: “We are aware of this tragic incident which is now the subject of a murder investigation being led by Essex police and we have deployed NCA officers to assist.
“We are working with partners including Essex police and immigration enforcement to provide specialist support to urgently identify and take action against any organised crime groups who might have played a role in causing these deaths.”
At the scene on Eastern Avenue, the white lorry in which the bodies were found could be seen behind a 7ft cordon, it’s rear lights illuminated, close to a warehouse operated by Southern Drains Services.
Police forensics officers wearing white suits were present, and a black forensics tent had been erected behind the vehicle. A number of businesses operate from the estate, which is close to the large Lakeside shopping complex.
A man behind the counter of a nearby hardware supplier said the cordon had been up since at least 7am, when he and colleagues had arrived for work. Another business situated behind the cordon said none of its staff had been able to get in to open at 8am.
Richard Burnett, the chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said: “This tragedy highlights the danger of migrant gangs people-smuggling on lorries.”
He added: “It’s highly unlikely that if this vehicle has come from Europe that it’s been physically checked. Because of the migrant issue at Dover and Calais, you’ve got far more checks.”
Seamus Leheny, the Northern Ireland policy manager for the Freight Transport Association, said: “If the lorry came from Bulgaria, getting into Britain via Holyhead is an unorthodox route. People have been saying that security and checks have been increased at places like Dover and Calais, so it might be seen as an easier way to get in by going from Cherbourg or Roscoff, over to Rosslare, then up the road to Dublin.
“It’s a long way around and it’ll add an extra day to the journey.”
The Dublin to Holyhead route is a key artery connecting Ireland and Britain, with almost 90% of Ireland’s road freight traffic passing through Dublin port. The equivalent of eight miles of trucks and containers offload in Dublin in less than an hour before dawn, a daily spectacle that is repeated in Holyhead.
“A line of steel just pouring off the ships,” the Dublin port company’s chief executive, Eamonn O’Reilly, said earlier this year.
About 200,000 of the 1.3m containers that enter the Irish port each year originate outside the EU and require customs checks.
Two vessels from Irish Ferries, the Ulysses and WB Yeats, each make two daily crossings to Holyhead, a gateway to major roads in Wales and then English motorway networks.
The WB Yeats departs Dublin at 2am and docks at Holyhead at 5.25am, returns to Dublin and sails again at 2.30pm, reaching Holyhead at 6pm. The Ulysses, similar in scale and speed, departs at 8.05am and again at 8.55pm.
Truck drivers typically use the crossing to eat and sleep.
If the truck found in Essex was a roll-on-roll-off freight trailer, it could have entered Ireland in one of four ways: from France, sailing into Dublin or Rosslare in County Wexford; from Rotterdam, sailing into Dublin; from Zeebrugge, sailing into Dublin; or from Santander in Spain, sailing into Cork.
The discovery is not the worst of its kind in the UK. The bodies of 58 Chinese people were found in a container at Dover, Kent, in 2000.
