This archive report was first published on 27 October 2019.
Published on October 27, 2019, a refrigerated trailer discovered in an Essex industrial park has led to the arrest of a driver on 39 counts of manslaughter and people trafficking.
Initial reports suggested the victims were Chinese, but several Vietnamese families have since come forward, fearing their relatives are among the dead.
Many of the victims are believed to have originated from impoverished villages in central Vietnam, where families are now bracing themselves for the worst.
Le Minh Tuan, a father from Yen Hoi village, Nghe An province, has not heard from his son Le Van Ha since a message on Facebook a week ago, stating he was about to board a car to Britain.
"We've heard no news from him since," Tuan told AFP, his eyes red from crying.
"For sure he was in that lorry. I just want my son's body back home," he said.
Le Van Ha, 30, had left his family in Vietnam in June, traveling through Turkey, Greece, and France en route to the UK, hoping to find work to pay back debts of $30,000 to smugglers and $8,500 to build the family home.
"He wanted to go to pay the debts... and send money back to his kids so they would have a better life," his father said.
Five people have been arrested in Britain in connection with the tragedy, the country's largest murder probe since the 2005 London suicide bombings.
