The 39 migrants who died after being locked in a freezing container en-route to the UK left ‘bloody handprints’ on the doors and walls of the ‘coffin’ where their bodies were found.
Sources have now claimed that the migrants, six of which were thought to have been Vietnamese, were naked or had minimal clothing when they were found in the container on Wednesday in Purfleet, Essex.
It is also believed that the Vietnamese migrants are all from the Can Loc district in northern Vietnam and had been ‘banging on the doors’ for help.
The latest revelation comes as a 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland was arrested at Stansted Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and suspicion of manslaughter.
Vietnamese woman Pham Thi Tra My sent her mother a series of harrowing messages telling her she ‘loved her’ and was ‘dying because she couldn’t breathe.’
Her family claim the 26-year-old paid people smugglers £30,000 to travel to the UK via China ‘in search of a better life.’
Pham’s family are believed to be one of ten that have come forward saying that they feared their relatives were missing after the discovery in Essex.
At least six of those found in the container may have been Vietnamese and new reports from the BBC now claim that a 20-year-old man is also feared to be one of the victims.
Relatives of Nguyen Dinh Luong told the broadcaster that he may be one of those found in the container. His family claimed they received urgent messages from two phones relating to Nguyen.
This is while a third Vietnamese family said a 19-year-old woman was missing after calling relatives at 6.20am on Tuesday to say she was getting into a container and was turning her phone off.
Police and forensic officers investigate a lorry in which 39 bodies were discovered in the trailer on Wednesday. Sources have now claimed that bloodied hand marks were found inside
Pham Thi Tra My (left) had text her mother whilst taking the journey to the UK. The family of Nguyen Dinh Luong (right) are also concerned for his safety
The Vietnamese migrants are all thought to have travelled from the same district, the Can Loc district, which is pictured above
Forensic officers are pictured above doing a full sweep of the lorry which had been carrying the migrants across the world
Since Wednesday four people have been arrested in connection with the death of the 39 migrants. Police had initially believed they had come from China
Vietnam’s embassy in London said it had received requests from Vietnamese families asking for help in finding out whether their relatives were among the victims found dead in the back of the truck.
Tonight sources told the Mirror that emergency teams responding to the call from driver Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson found hand prints of the doors of the container.
‘When the door of the container was opened, first responders were shocked to see dozens of dead bodies piled on top of one another.
‘There were bloody handprints all along the inside of the lorry door where they must have been banging for help.’
Police also revealed that a 48-year-old Northern Irish man has now been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and suspicion of manslaughter.
The area the Vietnamese migrants are thought to have hailed from has suffered hardship in recent years following an environmental disaster in 2016.
The region had relied on fishing as a main source of income and a chemical spill wiped out around 125 miles of coastlines. Since then there has been a rise in migration in the area, with many moving away to find work.
This comes as a husband and wife, thought to be the last known owners of the lorry, were arrested today after police swooped on their Cheshire home, three days into the biggest murder investigation in Britain since 7/7.
Joanna Maher, 38, and her husband Thomas, also 38, from Warrington, are understood to have been held on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and on suspicion of 39 counts of manslaughter.
Pham Thi Tra My sent her mother a series of harrowing text messages telling her she ‘couldn’t breathe’ whilst in the container
In text messages sent at 10.28pm GMT on Tuesday, Pham Thi Tra told her mother, ‘I love you so much…I’m sorry.’ Pictured, The screenshot of Tra My’s last text
Her family said 26-year-old Tra My paid £30,000 to travel to the UK via China ‘in search of a better life’ for herself
The 39 desperate stowaway migrants were locked up in the trailer (above). It is unclear how long they had been in there for but it is believed to be at least 15 hours
Pham Thi Tra’s last text messages were sent at 10.28pm BST on Tuesday – two hours before the truck reached the UK, as it was en route from Belgium.
Pham Thi Tra told her mother: ‘I’m sorry Mum. My journey abroad hasn’t succeeded. Mum, I love you so much. I’m dying because I can’t breathe.’
Tra My’s brother told the BBC on Friday that his sister had told them not to contact her because ‘the organisers’ did not allow her to receive calls.
He said she flew to China from her home in Can Lộc, a rural district of Hà Tĩnh Province in Vietnam, then left for France and initially attempted to cross the border into the UK on October 19, but ‘got caught’ and turned back.
Tra My is thought be among the eight women and 31 men who were discovered inside the ‘metal coffin’ lorry container on Wednesday morning. The Vietnamese families of a 26-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman have also contacted the BBC raising fears they could be among those dead.
Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK, said in a tweet: ‘Latest report from the Minister-Counsellor of my Embassy: Essex police emphasised they are still verifying the identity of the 39 deceased.
‘We are waiting for the police to identify the victims. This is a number one priority.’
The report has emerged from Human Rights Space, a civic network based in Vietnam, but there has not yet been any further verification of its claims, or those of her brother.
Hoa Nghiem from HRS said: ‘It was told on the news that all 39 people were Chinese but Tra My’s family is trying to verify if their daughter was among them as the last dying text from her was coincidentally in time.
‘Our contact is getting more alerts that there could be more Vietnamese people in the truck.’
Police previously said the eight women and 31 men were all believed to be Chinese nationals, but claims have now surfaced online that some may have been from Vietnam.
The Vietnamese Embassy in London confirmed it has contacted police in regard to Tra My. A spokesman for the embassy said they had been contacted by a family in Vietnam which claimed their daughter had been missing ‘since the lorry was found’.
The map above shows the perilous 5,000 mile journey the 39 migrants would have taken to get to the UK having paid ‘snakehead’ gangsters £20,000 for the privilege
Private Ambulances arriving at Tilbury Port to remove the remaining victims from the container on Friday morning
The spokesman said: ‘We have contacted Essex Police and we are waiting for an answer.’
Joanna Maher, 38, and her husband Thomas, also 38, from Warrington, are understood to have been held on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and on suspicion of 39 counts of manslaughter.
The couple told MailOnline that they sold the lorry cab a year ago to a company in Ireland – but police officers investigating the tragedy raided their property today. The refrigerated trailer carrying the 39 frozen trafficking victims is believed to be owned by a rental firm in Dublin.
A Cheshire Police patrol car arrived at the Irish couple’s house at 7am this on Thursday before up to a dozen police officers went inside at around Midday – just before the arrests were announced. The pair have not been seen.
Earlier this week Mrs Maher told MailOnline: ‘It’s the cab – my name was down as owning it.
‘We did own it but sold it 13 months ago’, adding they sold it to a company in County Monaghan, close to where truck driver Maurice ‘Mo’ Robinson, 25, lives.
This harrowing image shows a fleet of private ambulances arriving at Tilbury Docks to take away the victims on Friday
Police are also questioning the Northern Irish trucker for the third day with a decision on whether to charge him with murder or release him expected this afternoon.
An Essex Police spokesman said: ‘We have carried out warrants in Cheshire as part of the investigation into 39 bodies being discovered in a lorry trailer in Grays.
‘As a result, a 38-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman from Warrington have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and on suspicion of 39 counts of manslaughter. A 25-year-old man, the driver of the lorry, remains in custody on suspicion of murder’.
The container carrying migrants had previously criss-crossed the Channel via refugee hotspots in the week before it arrived in Britain with 39 frozen bodies inside, perhaps for several days, it was revealed today.
Today their bodies were moved by private ambulance from Tilbury docks to Chelmsford mortuary for post-examinations that will run into next week.
Final journey: How the 39 tragic migrants ended up in Purfleet, Essex, dead in the back of a refrigerated biscuit lorry
The industrial estate where the 39 migrants were found frozen to death in the back of a lorry remains sealed off on Friday as police questioned the driver for a third day
Police at the Warrington home of Joanna Maher, 38, and her husband Thomas, also 38, today where the couple are understood to have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and on suspicion of 39 counts of manslaughter
Police the home of Joanna and Thomas Maher who were the last named owners of the lorry which was found containing 39 migrants
Robinson arrived in the UK at the weekend after a ferry from Dublin to Holyhead. He picked up the trailer, which had been shipped from Zeebrugge to Purfleet, yesterday morning. Minutes later, he pulled into the Essex industrial estate and the alarm was raised
Two houses have been raided by police in Northern Ireland – one belonging to the lorry driver in Markethill and the other belonging to his parents in Laurelvale, both Co Armagh. A third house in Armagh City has also been raided
‘The migrant minibuses wait there all night’: How quiet Essex port at centre of death truck tragedy ‘comes alive at night’ as ruthless traffickers exchange human cargo under cover of darkness
People-smuggling operations are so rife at the port where 39 migrants were found dead this week that there is said to be a ‘migrant minibus service’.
Former port security guard Gary Lilley, 61, has described how Purfleet on the River Thames in Essex ‘comes alive at night’ with the arrival of trafficked migrants.
Mr Lilley, who lives opposite the port where he worked for six weeks in 2012, also claimed minibuses meet lorries to take away the migrants following their arrival.
Lorries are pictured outside the Purfleet Thames Terminal in Essex on Wednesday
An aerial view of Purfleet Port (file image) where 39 migrants were found dead this week. Police have now gone back on original claims that the migrants were Chinese
He told The Times that there is a ‘notorious’ lay-by near the port where migrants ditch their documents so UK authorities don’t know where to repatriate them to.
He added: ‘Minibuses wait there at night for them to arrive. Last summer during the heatwave I gave water bottles to two five-year-old girls as they looked desperate.
‘They were standing by the side of the road in a group of about 15. At the lay-by you see the lorries pull up and the migrants pop their heads out to see if it’s safe.
‘On many occasions I’ve seen minibuses pull up and they jump in and are driven off. It’s so organised.’
Purfleet in Essex is said to ‘come alive at night’ with the arrival of trafficked migrants
Minibuses are said to meet lorries to take away the migrants following their arrival at Purfleet
Police drive the lorry along a road from the scene at Waterglade Industrial Park on Wednesday
Mr Lilley said security is ‘lax’ at the port, with an X-ray scanner on a customs and excise lorry arriving once every two months for a day to scan vehicles arriving.
The local resident, who has lived in the area for 30 years, said the deaths were ‘heartbreaking’ and left him upset – but he was not surprised by what happened.
It follows the National Crime Agency warning in 2016 that people-smugglers were switching to Purfleet because it was ‘less busy’ than other UK entry points.
The incident on Wednesday has raised questions about border checks and whether the authorities have done enough to tackle trafficking gangs.
This May the NCA warned that Belgian ports such as Zeebrugge – from where the contained travelled to Purfleet – were becoming people-smuggling hotspots.
An earlier report from the Border Force also said Zeebrugge was a key concern.
Asked about security at Purfleet, a Home Office spokesman said this week: ‘I cannot comment on the specific deployment of Border Force staff and security technology.’
Last night, police began moving the bodies found in the refrigerated trailer attached to a lorry as a 25-year-old man remains in custody on suspicion of murder.