FACTBOX-Mass fatalities of migrants or suspected migrants in Europe

British police found the bodies of 39 people inside a truck container believed to have come from Bulgaria at an industrial estate to the east of London on Wednesday and said they had arrested the driver on suspicion of murder. Following are some incidents involving mass fatalities of migrants or suspected migrants in Europe in recent decades:

October 2019 - The truck discovered on Wednesday was thought to have entered Britain at Holyhead, in North Wales, on Saturday and to have originally started its journey in Bulgaria. The driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder, police said.

August 2015 - Four children, including a baby girl, were among 71 migrants found dead in a truck on an Austrian highway. They were later discovered to have come from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. An Austrian motorway patrol discovered the abandoned truck near the Hungarian border, probably at least 24 hours after it had been parked there.

Three years later, four people smugglers were jailed for 25 years for their deaths. February 2004 - At least 21 Chinese workers were drowned off the coast of Lancashire, northwestern England when they were trapped by the incoming tide after picking cockles.

In March 2006, a man originally from China was found guilty of manslaughter by a British court. He and his Chinese girlfriend and cousin were also convicted of helping those who died to break immigration laws, according to the BBC. June 2000 - The bodies of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants were found in the back of a truck at the English port of Dover. Two people survived.

In April 2001, a Dutch truck driver was sentenced to 14 years in jail for their manslaughter after he closed the only air vent and they suffocated to death, according to media reports.

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