Police in Vietnam have arrested eight people suspected of being involved in the apparent human smuggling ring that resulted in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals.
Last month, the bodies of eight women and 31 men were found dead inside a refrigerated truck about 15 miles outside of London. Police have not yet said how the 39 people died, when they died, or what country they were traveling through when they died.
Reports have suggested that the victims may have suffocated, but autopsies are being performed on the bodies in an attempt to glean more information about how, when, and why they died.
Police in England initially thought that the bodies were from China but later clarified that they were all from Vietnam. Police said they have been in “direct contact with a number of families in Vietnam and the U.K.” in addition to the Vietnamese government.
A spokeswoman with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the discovery as a “serious humanitarian tragedy.”
The driver of the truck, 25-year-old Maurice Robinson, was charged with 39 counts of manslaughter. Extradition hearings have begun for 22-year-old Eamonn Harrison, who was arrested in Dublin. Meanwhile, two brothers in Northern Ireland, Ronan and Christopher Hughes, are wanted on suspicion of being involved in the smuggling ring.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the deaths an “unimaginable tragedy and truly heartbreaking” around the time of the gruesome discovery.
