Horrible news from Essex where thirty-nine people were found dead in the back of a truck. They may have been Bulgarians trying to sneak into the UK.
Why?
Bulgaria and the UK are part of the EU. Can’t people freely travel within Europe?
It seems that it is not yet established that they were Bulgarians.
j
This is hopefully not unwanted speculation in GQ, but they were most likely Syrian refugees trying to get into the UK, which would also explain why they came via Northern Ireland and Wales, as there are far fewer border checks on that route.
Bulgaria is in the EU, so they have free movement.
Bulgarians can freely enter the UK, as of today and for checks calendar at least eight more days, but Bulgaria’s location next to Turkey means that it’s a common waypoint for migrants who travel overland from places like Syria and Iraq.
Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, and Bulgarians have had complete freedom of movement in the EU since 2014, following a standard transition period lasting up to seven years.
The vehicle in this incident is believed to be from Bulgaria, and the driver is from Northern Ireland, but the nationality of the victims who died in the truck is not yet known. It would seem unlikely that they are Bulgarians.
Is it even known if the truck’s journey to the UK began in Bulgaria? I assumed it had, but on closer inspection the stories just say it was registered in Bulgaria.
BBC:
It’s unclear how authorities came to discover the container’s contents.
OK, the fact they were sneaking in is a clue. Got it.
Thank you all.
Any theories on how they died?
I know there were similar incidents with Mexicans coming through the border to the U.S. in the backs of trucks but I can’t remember how did they die?
If they were in a refrigerated unit, then presumably freezing to death or suffocation.
Most reefers are airtight. If cold or heat doesn’t get them they’ll suffocate in the end.
Its happened before, there is a high likelihood they died of heat exhaustion and thirst.
I’m not sure heat exhaustion would be a factor this time of year.
The vehicle appears to have taken an odd circuitous route.
BBC:
The BBC also lists a couple of other incidents with even higher death tolls:
The tractor is registered in Bulgaria but based in Northern Ireland. It seems to have travelled from NI via the Republic of Ireland to Great Britain (which would be the standard route for that journey) and then driven south to pick up . . .
. . . the trailer, which was shipped over from Zeebrugge, in Belgium (but presumably didn’t originate there). The trailer landed at about 12:30 am and left the port (drawn by the tractor) at 1:05 am. The ambulance was called at about 1:40 am; we don’t yet know by whom.
There are two obvious possiblities. One is that the driver discovered dead people in his trailer and called the emergency services. The other is that the lorry was intercepted and checked by the authorities (immigration? customs? police?) who found the victims and called the emergency services.
The driver has been arrested “on suspicion of murder” although it seems likely that the victims were dead before he collected the trailer. Reportedly, his home and his business premises in NI have both been raided by the police. It may be that the authorities are taking the view that he is accountable for the deaths not because he actually killed the victims, but because they believe him to be part of a people smuggling operation, carried out in a manner that led to their deaths. Or it may be that they have simply arrested him because he was on the scene and involved to the extent that we know, and they are now investigating whether he was complicit.
So to clarify, there’s no evidence that the victims have any connection with Bulgaria?
None at all. Nor does the driver. And there is no suggestion that the trailer travelled from Bulgaria.
The only connection is that the tractor, although operating out of NI, is registered in Bulgaria. That, reportedly, happened in 2017, and was maybe a response to Brexit; a UK-based operator adding vehicles registered in a (continuing) EU member state as part of a strategy for being able to continue to operate in the EU without restriction after Brexit.
To descend from a question to a discussion …
The latest news is that a number of people were found alive in the container. Oddly, the BBC World Service was reporting yesterday that the police were not removing bodies in order to photograph the crime scene in situ. I hope nobody died as the police dithered.
If a mod is going to move this, could they please add a question mark to the title?
Where are you getting these reports? I haven’t heard anything about live people on any UK news.
Oh dear, there are several misunderstandings in the posts above. This is what we know so far:
The tractor unit came from N Ireland via Hollyhead and drove to Purfleet (a small port in East London.) It was registered in Bulgaria but had not been there for some years. As a member of the EU, Bulgarian citizens could just get on a coach to legally enter the UK.
The refrigerated trailer came from Zeebrugge in Belgium on the ferry - it is not yet known where its journey started or which route it took.
The N Irish driver collected the trailer and took it to an industrial estate not far away, where the bodies were discovered and an ambulance called - we don’t know by whom. It is normal to ship unaccompanied trailers by this route.
I have no idea where the ‘news’ that there were survivors came from - all my sources say they were all dead when they were found. To suggest that people may have “died as the police dithered” is totally false as the first on the scene were an ambulance crew.
Speculation is that they froze to death, but they might have been asphyxiated as these trailers are often airtight. It seems unlikely that the smugglers would have used a frozen trailer - it may well have been set at +2C or the fridge may have been switched off.
There have now been police raids and arrests in N. Ireland - presumably the operators/owners of the truck.
The likely sequence of events is this:
The gang who organise and make large profits from smuggling loaded the refugees into the trailer somewhere in Belgium and delivered it to the port.
The trailer was shipped and collected by the driver in Purfleet, who drove to the industrial estate. We don’t know why the back doors were opened - it’s possible that the driver was letting them out, or he may have been delivering to a nearby warehouse.
To add to bob++'s excellent summary of what we know:
Transit time on the ferry from Zeebrugge to Purfleet is about 8 hours, and trailers are expected to be ready to load 1 hr 30 mins before sailing. Presumably the victims entered the trailer at least an hour before it presented for loading at Zeebrugge. And it was an hour after landing before the emergency services were first called. So adding all that up, the victims were likely in the trailer for perhaps 12 hours, perhaps more.