British police confirm 39 Essex truck victims were all Chinese nationals as human trafficking probe begins

Victims may have frozen to death as they were locked for more than 10 hours in temperatures as low as -25 Celsius in refrigerated container from Belgium

Three properties in Northern Ireland raided as police seek to identify organised crime groups behind worst human smuggling tragedy in UK in two decades

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The discovery was described as an “unimaginable tragedy” by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:49pm, 24 Oct 2019Updated: 7:57pm, 29 Oct 2019

The 39 Chinese nationals found dead in a refrigerated truck in eastern England were trapped for at least 10 hours in a container with the temperature set to as low as -25 degrees Celsius (-13 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Belgian authorities.

The trailer arrived at Zeebrugge port in Belgium at 2.49pm en route to Britain and would not have been interfered with after, The Guardian reported, citing the port’s chief executive Joachim Coens.

“A refrigerated container in the port zone is completely sealed. During the check, the seal is examined, as is the licence plate. The driver is checked by cameras,” Coens told Belgian media.

Noting that the vehicles remained on camera until they arrived on the ferry, Bruges mayor Dirk de Fauw told VRT: “[To] break the seal, bring 39 people on board and apply a new seal without being noticed, that chance is extremely small.”

British police confirmed on Thursday that all 39 victims were Chinese nationals, in the worst human smuggling tragedy in the United Kingdom in nearly two decades.