THREE PEOPLE WHO were arrested in connection with the deaths of 39 people found in a refrigerated trailer in the UK this week have been released on bail.
Essex Police released a 38 year-old man and a 38 year-old woman who were arrested in Warrington on Friday, as well as a 46 year-old man from Northern Ireland who was arrested at Stansted Airport in London later the same day.
All three had been questioned on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people.
A fourth man, 25 year-old Maurice Robinson from Craigavon in Co Armagh, is due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.
He is charged with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and money laundering.
Police found the bodies of eight women and 31 men in the trailer of a lorry on an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
All of the victims have since been moved from the vehicle in Tilbury Docks to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford for post-mortem examinations to be carried out.
Essex Police are now working on the largest mass fatality victim identification process in the force’s history.
They previously said all the victims were from China, but a number of those who died are now believed to be Vietnamese nationals.
Investigators will look at tattoos, scars and belongings, including jewellery and clothing, with each of the victims said to have had some kind of bag.
More than 500 exhibits have been collected, including mobile phones, which will be downloaded and interrogated for any messages that could give clues to the identity of the victims or how they came to be in the back of the trailer.
Detectives are investigating a “wider conspiracy” after claims surfaced that the lorry could have been part of a convoy of three carrying around 100 people.
Belgian police are still hunting the driver who delivered the trailer to Zeebrugge, the port it left before arriving in the UK.
It is not yet known when the victims entered the trailer, where temperatures can be as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius if the fridge is activated, or the exact route it travelled.
With reporting from Press Association. Comments have been closed for legal reasons.
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