23 Oct, 2019 08:46

39 dead bodies discovered inside truck in Essex, UK, murder suspect arrested

A murder investigation has been launched after 39 people were found dead in a truck at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Emergency services were called to the site at around 1.40am BST to discover the 39 victims in a truck container. A 25 year-old man, named locally as Mo Robinson from Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder, police confirmed.

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Chief Superintendent Andrew Mariner initially said it was believed the lorry came from Bulgaria, but police said later that it had actually travelled from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

It appears the confusion was caused by the fact that the truck was registered in Bulgaria, but had not been in the country since 2017.

Early indications suggest 38 are adults and one a teenager. A police cordon has been set up and access to and from the Waterglade Industrial Park remains closed.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson responded by saying that he was "appalled by this tragic incident in Essex" and that he was receiving regular updates from the Home Office.

Holyhead port is the principle link for surface transport from north Wales and central and northern England to Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. Over two million people travel through the port each year, which is operated by Stena Line Ports Ltd.