British police have launched a murder investigation after 39 bodies were found dead in a truck container.

British police have launched one of the largest murder probes in the nation’s history after the bodies of 39 people were discovered in the back of a truck on an industrial estate in Essex, east of London.

Five ambulances and a car were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park at 1:40am local time on Wednesday morning where they made the grisly discovery.

Police were called to the scene and Mo Robinson, a 25-year-old man from Portadown in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, who was the driver of the vehicle, was arrested on suspicion of murder.

The lorry and trailer had only minutes earlier left the port of Purfleet, shortly after 1.05am.

On his social media accounts, Mr Robinson appears to be a proud truck driver and partner.

He describes himself on Facebook as a “lorry driver” from the northern County Armagh in Northern Ireland, having studied at the Southern Regional College in Armagh.

The account also states he is “in a relationship”.

It seems he first started driving a red and white Scania Super truck, similar to the one now being examined by police, almost one year ago to the day.

When a friend in January asked “New truck mate?”, he replied “Yes” with two thumbs up.

He shared an image on Instagram on October 30, 2018 of the vehicle outside a Scania warehouse and carrying a container marked “M&S - Daily service to and from Scandinavia”.

“New rig lad,” one man commented, including an emoji with love-heart eyes.

The red and white truck doesn’t appear in any of Mr Robinson’s posts prior to that date.

In September, he shared the same photo of the truck on his Instagram and Facebook pages.

“I’ve got the G&A fridge that used to be behind it,” one man commented.

About a month prior to that, Mr Robinson posted another photo of what appears to be the same truck, saying he’d “just moved her down … for a picture”.

On Instagram in January, Mr Robinson added hashtags to a photo of the truck including #peterjensentransport, #cowboyclub and #irishfridgemen.

He also referred to the vehicle as the “Polar Express”, and while en route to Sweden in December called it the “Scandinavian Express”. The account suggests he regularly drives through European countries including Denmark and the Netherlands.

But he is not believed to be the owner of the vehicle.

Back in October 2014, Mr Robinson shared an image of a different truck on what appears to be a ship at sea, captioned: “Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life #lifeontheroad #livingthedream”.

CCTV showing the truck just moments before it pulled into the industrial estate was released on Wednesday. It had a sticker on the windscreen which read: “The Ultimate Dream”.

The vehicle was registered to a company owned by an Irish woman in Varna on the east coast of Bulgaria, according to a spokesman for the Bulgarian foreign affairs ministry. The truck has not been in Bulgaria since 2017, however.

Bulgaria’s Foreign Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zharieva said she was “shocked by the terrifying news of the tragic incident in Essex” and said they “strongly condemn the human trafficking and smuggling” despite the country’s record of people-smuggling gangs that charge thousands of euros to ferry migrants into and across Europe.

Police believe the trailer travelled by ferry across the English Channel from Zeebrugge in Belgium into Purfleet on the River Thames in England, and then docked in the Thurrock area after 12:30am on Wednesday morning, while the truck unit originated from Northern Ireland.

Authorities have not yet revealed the identities or genders of the 39 victims, but they are believed to be 38 adults and one teenager.

At Robinson’s County Armagh home, his girlfriend’s visibly shaken brother said they hadn’t “heard from him” and “don’t know what is going on,” BelfastLive reports..

A woman collecting clothes and dogs from the house declined to comment.

Robinson has previously shared an image of himself on Instagram walking three Dalmatians.

Exclusive: Video shows lorry in which 39 bodies were later found in Essex, moments before turning into industrial park https://t.co/kubNQBQoJY pic.twitter.com/6werJqWisi — ITV News (@itvnews) October 23, 2019

‘ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS’

Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett told the Irish Mirror the style of container appeared to be a refrigerated unit which would have been “absolutely horrendous” for anyone trapped inside.

Temperatures can reach as low as -25 degrees for frozen products, causing humans to “lose their lives pretty quickly,” he said.

“It’s going to be dark. If the fridge is running it’s going to be incredibly cold.

“The only place to go to the toilet is on board the back of the trailer. You can imagine if they’ve been in there for days then there will be faeces, there will be urine,” he said.

‘ABSOLUTE TRAGEDY’

Deputy chief constable Pippa Mills from Essex Police said it was “an absolute tragedy and a very sad day” for officers and the community.

“At this stage we have not identified where the victims are from or their identities, and we anticipate that this could be a lengthy process,” she told reporters at a press conference.

The East England Ambulance Service (EEAST) said it was first alerted to the scene after receiving a phone call in the early hours of the morning, but could not confirm who made the phone call.

Earlier, chief superintendent Andrew Mariner said: “This is a tragic incident where a large number of people have lost their lives. Our inquiries are ongoing to establish what has happened”.

MP BLAMES ‘PEOPLE TRAFFICKING’

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled” by the tragic incident and working closely with police.

“I’m appalled by this tragic incident in Essex. I am receiving regular updates from the Home Office and will work closely with Essex Police as we establish exactly what has happened,” he tweeted.

“My thoughts are with all those who lost their lives and their loved ones.”

Mr Johnson told Parliament on Wednesday that all human traffickers should be hunted down and brought to justice”, calling it “an unimaginable tragedy and truly heart-breaking”.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel also said she was “shocked and saddened” by the news.

Shocked & saddened by this utterly tragic incident in Grays. Essex Police has arrested an individual and we must give them the space to conduct their investigations. — Priti Patel MP (@patel4witham) October 23, 2019

But Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price was quick to blame people smugglers for the deaths.

“People trafficking is a vile and dangerous business … let’s hope they bring these murderers to justice,” she tweeted.

Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director, Steve Valdez-Symonds, also weighed in.

“This is a heartbreaking and horrifying incident. People who are forced to take dangerous and sometimes fatal passages to reach the UK often do so because current immigration policies and practices deny them safe and legal options,” he said.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was an “unbelievable human tragedy”.

“Can we just think for a moment of what it must have been like for those 39 people, obviously in a desperate and dangerous situation, for their lives to end, suffocated to death in a container?” he said.

Labour MP Diane Abbott said: “It’s important to remember that these 39 poor, unfortunate people are the victims in this.

“They are preyed on by the greedy, unscrupulous and people who simply have a wilful disregard for the lives of others.”

The UK’s Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants called for government action, saying the nation needed “more than empty expressions of shock and sadness from Priti Patel and Boris Johnson”.

“Nobody should be in any doubt that the ultimate responsibility for these deaths lies with government policy which has deliberately closed down safe and legal routes into Britain,” it said in a statement.

“People move, they always have and they always will. Nobody should have to risk their lives to do so.”

BULGARIA INVESTIGATING ORIGIN OF TRUCK

Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said it could not confirm at this stage whether the truck had started its journey from the country.

“We are still checking the information, published in the British media and we’re contacting the authorities,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Tsvetana Krasteva said.

Dan Peters, from a hydraulic maintenance company on the industrial estate where the bodies were found, said it was “terrible” news. He said the industrial estate was made up of courier and logistics companies.

The UK and the Republic of Ireland are not in the European Union’s no-borders Schengen zone but have their own historic Common Travel Area, meaning there are no checks on the movement of goods or people between the two.

In Britain’s biggest illegal immigrant tragedy in 2000, British customs officials found the bodies of 58 Chinese people crammed into a tomato truck at the southern port of Dover.

In 2014, staff at the Tilbury container port next to Grays heard screaming and banging coming from inside a shipping container. They then found 34 Afghan Sikhs alive inside suffering from severe dehydration, hypothermia and lack of air.

One man was found dead, having passed away during the sea crossing from Belgium.

-With wires