A Vietnamese woman who sent heartbreaking texts as she died alongside 38 others in the back of a refrigerated truck had been deported from Britain just days earlier, according to reports.

Pham Thi Tra My, 26, was identified by her family as one of the 39 dead in last week’s gruesome truck find because of texts she sent them reading, “I’m dying because I can’t breathe.”

Now her loved ones say she paid human traffickers more than $38,000 — and appears to have died in desperation, having been arrested trying to get into the UK just days earlier, according to the reports.

“She was arrested a few days ago [in Britain] and they returned her to France. Now we heard she might have died,” her heartbroken brother told Vietnamese media, according to The Sun.

Her father, Pham Van Thin, said the family begged her not to go — and assumed the amount she paid to get smuggled in meant she would travel a “VIP route” by car.

“We tried to talk her out of it because it would be a very difficult journey — but she said: ‘If I don’t go, the family would stay in a difficult situation because of the debt,'” the dad said, according to The Sun.

“So she took a risk and we had to agree. We are in shock.

“I cannot explain our pain. We were all devastated. If I had known she would go by this route, I would not have let her go.”

The Home Office would not comment on whether she had ­previously entered Britain, The Mirror said.

The family of Nguyen Huy Hung fears he is among the dead — and at 15, he would be the youngest of the 39 victims, according to The Sun.

It is believed his parents are already in England and had paid almost $13,000 to get their youngest son into the country, the report said.

Anna Bui Thi Nhung, 19, is also feared to be one of the youngest victims found in the freezing truck, the paper said.

Driver Maurice Robinson, 25, appeared in court Monday charged with 39 counts of manslaughter along with two counts of conspiracy to facilitate human trafficking, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.