UK - 39 bodies found in lorry, Essex, 23 October 2019

[Mrs Marple]

However looking at Mos Facebook on the photos he appears to say he owns the cab ?

This. He mighty proud for something he doesn't even own??

 

[Mrs Marple]

That's an incredibly fancy rig. Is that the norm in the UK?

If you own it, yes...they get them painted, portrait work on the panels (my husband has painted a few) fancy lights, all sorts.

 

[HayLouise]

BREAKING: The BBC has been in touch with the families of three Vietnamese people who are worried that their relatives may have been on the trailer found in Grays on Wednesday morning.

BBC Essex on Twitter

 

[Noseyjosie]

If you own it, yes...they get them painted, portrait work on the panels (my husband has painted a few) fancy lights, all sorts.

Some companies will allow a driver to do some custom work to a tractor unit if they are the only one who drives it

 

[HayLouise]

25 October 2019:

First picture of woman thought to be among 39 dead in Essex lorry



A human rights group in Hanoi is reporting that a 26-year-old Vietnamese woman is feared to have died in the lorry in Essex.

Her family have voiced fears their daughter was one of the victims after she told them she was ‘dying because I can’t breathe’, the Mirror reports.

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, sent a frantic text message to her mother at around 10:30 p.m. on October 22.

She wrote: ‘I’m sorry Mom, my path to abroad didn’t succeed.

‘I love you and Dad so much! I’m dying because I can’t breathe.’

The family are now appealing for help through a human rights activist in their own country.

Hoa Nghiem of Human Rights group Space wrote about the family’s fears on social media and included a picture of the missing woman.

First picture of woman thought to be among 39 dead in Essex lorry | Metro News

 

[Ched]

Oh crumbs what awful reading

 

[HayLouise]

She said: ‘My’s family has asked for help. The person told me there were six other people asking for similar assistance to find out whereabouts of their relatives or family member since they also lost contact since October 23.

‘We don’t know if that would make six cases as we are verifying names. And we don’t know if they are in that Essex truck. We hope they are not.’

Ms Nghiem said that Ms My had gone to China to begin her journey to the UK in a hope of a better life.

In a statement, the British embassy in Hanoi said the nationality of the victims had not been confirmed but they were working hard to identify each one.

The statement said: ‘The nationality of the victims has not been confirmed at this stage.

‘The UK authorities are working as fast as possible to identify the victims and inform their families.

‘This is an appalling tragedy and our thoughts and condolences are with the families and friends of all those people who have sadly died.

‘UK authorities will conduct a full and thorough investigation.’

First picture of woman thought to be among 39 dead in Essex lorry | Metro News

 

[Jealoushe]

I wish we had a professional lorry driver on this thread to explain the processes for us. Reporting is so sketchy, I can’t figure out how many drivers would have been involved in this journey. Which of these drivers would have accessed/ been expected to access the load? What’s the the process for actually scheduling a load ie. can anyone just book a truck to carry cargo on a set journey if they have enough money? And these random checks on trailers...they sound shockingly inefficient. I’d imagine this is probably a lonely job at times, maybe has a lot of peaks and troughs in terms of income. I’m genuinely interested in gaining an understanding of the lifestyle.

I am going to try and help answer some questions about driving/hauling. I don't drive myself but I work in an insurance brokerage that specializes in this transportation and all of my clients for the most part are haulers, from single drivers to 400+ fleets.

When it comes to driving truck there are several ways to do it.

• You lease or own your own rig, and get jobs through Load Brokerages or networking. Most who have their own rig and are the sole driver have a contract with a single company. For example, moving ingredients for Pizza Pizza only.
• You lease or own the rig, and hand over power of attourney to a Hauling company, who then plates the rig in their name, and you work for them. They pay all the expenses like licensing, insurance etc, but you have a steady line of loads. These companies can get loads from either a contract (Like hauling for Walmart) or Load Brokers (hauling whatever they can whenever).
• You drive only, the company owns or leases the rig. Jobs are either a contract or through load brokers.

Load Brokers are giving shipments to find haulers for. Say I need a load of fish shipped from the pier to Sobeys grocery chain, I contact my load broker and say I need X delivered by Y on XYZ date and I need a reefer unit (refridgerated). They confirm insurance etc and it goes from there.

In Canada you would need a proper class license, insurance, and regristation to drive truck. We also have what is called a CVOR (Commercial vehicle operations registration) that is attached to every company who hauls or drives commercially. This report will show any infractions they have like tickets, or not meeting inspection recs when pulled over for routine inspections.

In Canada we have stations on the highway that alert drivers who have to pull over for inspection. The worst your CVOR is, the more likely you are to continually be inspected.

As for a reefer load, it is sealed at original loading. It is unsealed only at the final destination. Opening the seal will result in a loss of the cargo. The bill of lading is a document which all parties agree to and sign, at pick up and then at final delivery to ensure the load was received and there were no errors.

That's an incredibly fancy rig. Is that the norm in the UK?

Yes

 

[HayLouise]

The message, translated into English by a family acquaintance, was received at 4.28am on Wednesday morning in Vietnam, a screenshot shows. This would have been 10.28pm UK time, when the trailer carrying the victims would have been in transit – and just four hours before the ambulance was called and the bodies were discovered.


Vietnamese family fears daughter may be among Essex lorry victims | UK news | The Guardian

 

[Taskforce88]

The BBC has spoken to the families of three Vietnamese people who are worried their relatives may have been in the trailer.

The family of one woman say she sent a text saying she was suffocating.

They say Pham Tra My, 26, sent the message on Tuesday night and they have not been able to contact her since. They said they had paid £30,000 for her to be smuggled to Britain.

Two more arrests over 39 lorry deaths

 

[HayLouise]

Vietnamese 'lorry victim's' desperate texts to mum saying 'I can't breathe'

 

[HayLouise]

Essex lorry deaths: Vietnamese woman feared to be among victims

 

[HayLouise]

BREAKING: Grave fears Tra My may be one of the 39 people on board Essex truck. She wrote a message to her mum saying “I’m dying because I can’t breath”. Her family in Vietnam are trying to verify if she was among those on board @9NewsAUS



Sophie Walsh on Twitter

 

[ChatteringBirds]

How absolutely heart-breaking.

As far as the driver, of those involved, he was the victims' only chance, as he did call 911. (Not giving any kind of pass to any known involvement in human trafficking. If he knew, what was he told? What was he thinking?)

 

[dixiegirl1035]

BREAKING: The BBC has been in touch with the families of three Vietnamese people who are worried that their relatives may have been on the trailer found in Grays on Wednesday morning.

BBC Essex on Twitter

This incident may open up a lot of avenues for other smuggling rings!

 

[HayLouise]

BREAKING: The BBC has been in touch with the families of three Vietnamese people who are worried that their relatives may have been on the trailer found in #Essex on Wednesday morning. Watch @BBCNews for more details 1/

Johnny Greenwood on Twitter

Relatives of Pham Tra My- who is 26 - received a message from her on Tuesday night saying that she was suffocating. They have not been able to contact her since. They asked the BBC to pass on her details to Essex Police. They had paid £30,000 for her to be smuggled to Britain 2/

Johnny Greenwood on Twitter

Two other families have been in touch. They are relatives of a 26-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman.
The woman's family said that she said she was turning off her phone just before the crossing to the UK. They have not heard from her since. 3/

Johnny Greenwood on Twitter

 

[HayLouise]

Essex truck deaths: ‘I'm sorry mum, my journey abroad hasn't succeeded’

 

[dixiegirl1035]

She said: ‘My’s family has asked for help. The person told me there were six other people asking for similar assistance to find out whereabouts of their relatives or family member since they also lost contact since October 23.

‘We don’t know if that would make six cases as we are verifying names. And we don’t know if they are in that Essex truck. We hope they are not.’

Ms Nghiem said that Ms My had gone to China to begin her journey to the UK in a hope of a better life.

In a statement, the British embassy in Hanoi said the nationality of the victims had not been confirmed but they were working hard to identify each one.

The statement said: ‘The nationality of the victims has not been confirmed at this stage.

‘The UK authorities are working as fast as possible to identify the victims and inform their families.

‘This is an appalling tragedy and our thoughts and condolences are with the families and friends of all those people who have sadly died.

‘UK authorities will conduct a full and thorough investigation.’

First picture of woman thought to be among 39 dead in Essex lorry | Metro News

In the beginning they said they were Chinese Nationals, but I would assume that they will be using genealogical DNA databases to determine their ethnicities since we are now seeing that someone is thinking they are Vietnamese.

 

[jamjim]

BREAKING: The BBC has been in touch with the families of three Vietnamese people who are worried that their relatives may have been on the trailer found in #Essex on Wednesday morning. Watch @BBCNews for more details 1/

Johnny Greenwood on Twitter

Relatives of Pham Tra My- who is 26 - received a message from her on Tuesday night saying that she was suffocating. They have not been able to contact her since. They asked the BBC to pass on her details to Essex Police. They had paid £30,000 for her to be smuggled to Britain 2/

£30,000? Oh my god, this is just going to get more and more heartbreaking as further details come out

 

[CoverMeCagney]

BREAKING: The BBC has been in touch with the families of three Vietnamese people who are worried that their relatives may have been on the trailer found in #Essex on Wednesday morning. Watch @BBCNews for more details 1/

Johnny Greenwood on Twitter

Relatives of Pham Tra My- who is 26 - received a message from her on Tuesday night saying that she was suffocating. They have not been able to contact her since. They asked the BBC to pass on her details to Essex Police. They had paid £30,000 for her to be smuggled to Britain 2/

Johnny Greenwood on Twitter

Two other families have been in touch. They are relatives of a 26-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman.
The woman's family said that she said she was turning off her phone just before the crossing to the UK. They have not heard from her since. 3/

Johnny Greenwood on Twitter

£30,000 - wow!! Potentially a million quids worth of fees paid to the smugglers and plenty to be shared out for various legs of the route.