Two men have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals found in a refrigerated lorry trailer in Essex.

Essex Police said a 22-year-old man was arrested in Northern Ireland on Sunday on suspicion of manslaughter and facilitating unlawful immigration.

He remains in police custody in Essex, officers said.

Image: The bodies were those of Vietnamese nationals

A 43-year-old man has also been charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Gheorghe Nica, of Mimosa Close in Langdon Hills, Basildon, was detained at Frankfurt Airport in Germany and brought back to the UK on a European Arrest Warrant.


The 43-year-old appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Saturday and will next appear at the Old Bailey on March 16.

Officers added that post-mortem examinations had been completed and the provisional cause of death for all those who died was a combination of lack of oxygen and overheating in an enclosed space - or hypoxia with hyperthermia.

Emergency services had been called to an industrial estate in Grays, Essex, shortly after a lorry arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Ten teenagers, including two 15-year-old boys, were among 39 Vietnamese nationals whose bodies were discovered in the lorry trailer in the early hours of October 23.

Lorry deaths: 16 bodies returned to Vietnam

Various arrests have been made in connection with the deaths, in the UK, in Ireland and in Vietnam.

Police investigations are continuing, and the force are keen to speak to anyone "who has knowledge of two similar journeys that haulage vehicles made into Purfleet on Friday 11 and Friday 18 October 2019."

Essex Police added: "It is believed that lorries were used to facilitate the unlawful entry of people into the country via Purfleet. We believe that these people, or anyone who had knowledge of the journeys, has crucial information to assist our inquiry."