Newspaper headlines: 'Tomb of steel' and 'why were warnings ignored?' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 24 October 2019

image caption Many of the papers feature images of the white refrigerated container in which 39 bodies were found

Photographs of the white refrigerated container in which 39 bodies were found appear on many of Thursday's front pages.

The Daily Mirror calls it "The tomb of steel".

"Why were warnings ignored?" , asks the Daily Mail in its headline. The paper says the National Crime Agency had warned three years ago that people smugglers were switching to Purfleet - the port in Essex thought to have been used by the container.

The Times says officials had failed to heed repeated warnings about criminal gangs smuggling migrants in refrigerated containers.

The metal-sided trailers are used, according to the Daily Mirror , because their human cargo cannot be detected by thermal imaging cameras used at ports.

The paper suggests that checks on containers from ports such as Zeebrugge are "almost non-existent".

The Telegraph describes "Belgium as the new battleground in the fight against illegal immigrants", while analysis in the Guardian blames government policy for the deaths, saying smugglers use life-threatening methods to reach Britain when safe and legal routes are shut down.

The i says spot checks have now been increased on lorries arriving in the UK. But its editor asks: How long will these continue?

While the Financial Times and the Guardian report splits within Boris Johnson's cabinet over how to proceed with Brexit, both papers also suggest there are disagreements within Labour as well.

According to the Guardian , Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing "significant pressure" to resist any government calls for an election.

The paper blames a green social media for terrifying the public, using what it calls "out-of-date and debunked US stories".

The paper says it is just one of a series of planned disruptive amendments.

Several newspapers report that smart motorways - which have hard shoulders that should be used only at peak times - are "a bit too smart".

The head of Highways England has admitted that drivers do not understand when to use them.

The Mail says drivers have also been killed because of delays in installing technology to spot broken down vehicles. The extra kit is now being added on existing motorways.

The FT reports that the UK will need to spend £240bn on installing an average of 4,000 electric vehicle charging points and heat pumps a day if the government is to meet its target to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Twenty-five million charging points are required.

The Telegraph suggests living near such a point boosts the value of properties nearby.

And finally, The mystery of why the Bayeux Tapestry is so long and thin has finally been solved , according to the Telegraph.

A professor of art history, Christopher Norton from the University of York, has found that the embroidery's measurements fit perfectly into a long forgotten area of Bayeux Cathedral.