Essex truck deaths: Victims were Chinese nationals - ITV

The 39 victims that were found dead in a truck container in Essex were Chinese nationals, ITV reported on Thursday. The dead bodies were found on Wednesday on an industrial estate.

Paramedics and police found the bodies of 38 adults and one teenager early on Wednesday in a truck container on an industrial estate at Grays, about 20 miles (32 km) east of the British capital. Detectives were continuing to question the truck driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland, who remains in custody.

For years, illegal immigrants have attempted to reach Britain stowed away in the back of trucks, often seeking to reach the United Kingdom from the European mainland. In Britain's biggest illegal immigrant tragedy, the bodies of 58 Chinese people were found crammed into a tomato truck at the southern port of Dover in 2000. The vehicle had begun its journey in Zeebrugge.