UK Police find 39 dead bodies in truck container in Essex, England
  • WORLD

  • 13:20 23 October 2019

UK Police find 39 dead bodies in truck container in Essex, England

A murder investigation has been launched after 39 bodies were discovered in a lorry container in Essex, ONA reports citing The Telegraph.

Essex Police were called to Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, at about 1.40am Wednesday morning and found the bodies in the vehicle. It is understood 38 were adults and one was a teenager. 

The driver - a 25-year-old-man from Northern Ireland - has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

It is understood the lorry was registered in Bulgaria and had entered the UK on Saturday at Holyhead - more than 300 miles from where the bodies were discovered in Thurrock.

Holyhead is the second-busiest ferry port in the UK after Dover, and serves as a major route from Ireland and Northern Ireland to mainland Britain.

Chief Superintendent Andrew Mariner said: "This is a tragic incident where a large number of people have lost their lives. Our enquiries 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, Oct 19 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 enquiries 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."

Paige Wade was driving past the industrial park at 4.15am on the way home from work.

She said: "I had just finished work while driving up Motherwell Way and all you could see was blue flashing lights, as I was driving past there was police tape to cordon off the start of eastern avenue.

"I knew it was serious because of how many police cars and ambulances were there, but the police had parked their cars across the whole access of the road so you couldn't see anything.

"There's always lorries around there as they park up there for the night, I couldn't say whether I did or didn't see the actual lorry in question."

ONA

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