Mans inhumanity to man.
How on earth can 39 people be allowed to perish in the back of a lorry ?
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Dreadful story. How they must have suffered.
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Obviously pure speculation on my part but I guess it was a smuggling operation that went wrong. Tragic.
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A young novice driver not knowing it was an"unorthodox route" and also unaware of what he was carrying aboard?
I sincerely hope that was the case…but the route suggests someone knew and didn’t bother to check that that these pour souls were were able to leave the lorry.
Absolutely awful…
Tragic thing to happen but I do wonder if coming from Bulgaria, why the driver landed at Holyhead and then drove to Grays
Yes, that’s the bit that everyone’s probably trying to figure out .
Could the lorry have come in via say, Cork, drove up to the ferry port then arrived in Hollyhead to head back to London or wherever to drop off the cargo only to find the cargo deceased so maybe the lorry was heading back to the continent to unload the dead bodies ?
Anything is possible in this mad world !
Utter tragedy which shows how desperate some people are to flee war torn areas of the Middle East and north Africa - Bulgaria is in the EU so I assume these poor souls came from further afield.
Apparently the lorry has not been in Bulgaria since it was bought by an Irish lady in 2017.
Surely once the bodies were discovered the driver/owner would not risk driving back to the continent but would attempt to discharge asap?
Apparently the lorry didn’t cross at Holyhead.
Latest I have heard is that the lorry driver collected the container from Purfleet and just over half an hour later the whole thing was left at Grays.
So, I’m sure folk are wondering what happened in those 30 minutes.
The driver is suspected of murder… which means he is supected of doing something in those 30 minutes ??? or what.
Whatever, it is a ghastly tragedy for those people who have died… and I hope whoever is truly responsible is brought to justice.
I think its just a holding device by the Police to give them time to question him. It used to be known as “helping the police with their enquiries” and applies a bit of pressure on him to spill any beans or facts known to him within the time frame allowed before they must formally charge him or ask a magistrate for an extension. It does not imply guilt in itself.
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Thanks Graham… that certainly makes sense. 
Not heard anything about who called the emergency services. If the poor people were already dead who would have known they were in there, especially so soon after arriving. Did the driver find them and make the call?
I think the driver may have said something that has indicated he knew the poor souls were in there hence the murder arrest As Graham says it is a means of keeping him in custody,although plenty of other criteria could have been used
In the absence of an explanation to the contrary, I think that’s the most likely explanation but where he stopped seems odd. I might have expected him to check the doors etc once in the lorry park but in the road leading there could only suggest that he felt some unusual “movement” - the load shifting for example - which caused him to stop and check. Remember that this is a sealed container on the trailer unit, not a lorry in the normal sense…
Interesting development…
Shades of deja vu? - similar case in 2000 with 58 bodies
It’s a terrible situation, but shows we need better border checks to stop anyone sneaking in, or even thinking about it.
3 weeks ago I came through new haven. To dieppe I didn’t see any cars getting checked and no douane checking in new haven at all on my arrival. Sunday night every car was getting looked into.
The Douane only operate on British soil at Dover for outbound traffic to France (and Border Force (UK) vice versa at Calais) as part of the Le Touquet accord in February 2004) later extended to encompass Brussels central station.
We are leaving ourselves wide open to these appalling crimes, never mind smuggling of other commodities.
What a totally stupid agreement.