More arrests are expected as gardai and British police close in on the gang involved in the deaths of 39 migrants.
Maurice “Mo” Robinson, 25, will appear in a UK court tomorrow charged with 39 counts of manslaughter.
He will also face charges of conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.
The trucker from Craigavon, Co Armagh, was arrested shortly after he discovered eight women and 31 men dead in his trailer at Waterglade Retail Park, in Grays, Essex, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
In another major development, gardai arrested a 23-year old truck driver at Dublin Port after he drove his blue Scania lorry from an Irish Ferries vessel which arrived from France.
His vehicle was impounded by gardai.
It is now suspected the truck that Robinson drove was part of a convoy of three carrying up to 100 migrants.
At least ten Vietnamese families have said they have not heard from loved ones who were attempting to reach the UK – including relatives of Anna Bui Thi Nhung, 19, and Nguyen Dinh Tu, both from Vietnam, yesterday named as suspected victims.
Mr Dinh Tu’s heartbroken wife Hoang Thi Thuong said he had been working illegally in Romania and Germany before he lost his job.
His family had raised £11,000 to cover the cost of his trip to the UK where he hoped to find work. She said: “I have a big debt to pay, no hope, and no energy to do anything.”
The death toll is believed to include Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20, who left Vietnam a year ago and was recently known to be in France.
Another feared victim is 26-year-old Pham Thi Tra My, whose family paid £30,000 to get her smuggled into Britain via China and France. Her family told how they received a text message telling them she was “dying” and couldn’t breathe as the container was on its way to the UK.
Her father Pham Van Thin told how the smugglers did not tell them how she would be transported and said had he known he “would not have let her go”.
Father Anthony Dang Huu Nam, a Catholic priest from Vietnam’s Nghe An province, told how he was aware of more than 100 people
travelling in a convoy to “a new life”.
He said: “A few families confirmed the deaths of their relatives who are the victims of this tragic journey.
“The whole district is covered in sorrow. This is a catastrophe for our community.” At a police press conference yesterday afternoon, Det Chief Inspector Martin Pasmore admitted the agonising wait for answers will continue.
As a huge international investigation gathered pace, he said: “What we are doing is trying to appeal to any community that feel that they have loved ones involved in this incident and from my perspective to start building trust. At every stage we will be treating victims with dignity and respect.
“There were very few identification papers. We are now using marks, scars and tattoos to identify victims.
“All victims have been recovered, they are all now at Broomfield Hospital and they will be undergoing post mortems.
“The recovery process was forensic and for those watching, thinking why does it take so much time to recover bodies in this manner, it is precisely this reason.
“We have to gain so much
information to make sure we don’t miss anything.
“All of that takes time – and it will continue, unfortunately, to take time.”
