Another Vietnamese citizen is feared among the 39 people found dead in a truck in England this week, after his father told reporters yesterday that he had received a chilling call to say his son had died en route to the UK.
British police initially said that all 39 people found dead in a refrigerated trailer in Essex this week were Chinese, including eight women.
Yet at least two Vietnamese families have now said they fear that their relatives, who might have been carrying falsified Chinese passports, are among the victims.
Nguyen Dinh Gia said his son told him two weeks ago he planned to travel to England from France, where he had been living illegally since last year.
His 20-year-old son Nguyen Dinh Luong said he would pay ￡11,000 (US$14,110) for the journey.
However, Gia got a call several days ago from a Vietnamese man saying: “Please have some sympathy, something unexpected happened,” he said.
“I fell to the ground when I heard that,” Gia said. “It seemed that he was in the truck with the accident, all of them dead.”
He has asked Vietnamese officials to help identify his son, who was believed to be looking for work in a nail salon in the UK.
Contacts in England told Gia that his son was believed to have left Paris at about 3pm on Monday, two days before the bodies were found.
A 26-year-old Vietnamese, Pham Thi Tra My, is also believed to be among the dead after her family received a heart-wrenching text message from her on Wednesday, before the immigrants were discovered.
“I’m sorry Mom. My path to abroad doesn’t succeed. Mom, I love you so much! I’m dying bcoz I can’t breathe,” she said in the message confirmed by her brother Pham Manh Cuong.
He received another message from her on Wednesday saying: “Please try to work hard to pay the debt for mummy, my dear,” according to a text sent at 12:15am Hanoi time on Wednesday, which was seen by reporters.
Both suspected victims came from Ha Tinh, an impoverished province in central Vietnam where many of the country’s illegal migrants come from. Many have their sights set on England, where they end up working in nail salons or on cannabis farms.
Many travel through Russia or China and often carry falsified documents for the journeys, which can cost up to US$40,000.
The 39 bodies were found on an industrial estate in Grays east of London early on Wednesday.
A 25-year-old Northern Irish man was arrested at the scene, while two British nationals were arrested on Friday on suspicion of trafficking and manslaughter, Essex police said.
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