
Horrified police officers were this afternoon pictured bowing their heads after a lorry carrying the dead bodies of thirty-nine migrants was driven away from the spot they were discovered.

It comes as the lorry driver who is believed to have picked up a refrigerated container at an Essex port, has been arrested for mass murder.

Mo Robinson, 25, had driven from his home in a small village near Portadown, Northern Ireland, over the weekend and collected the trailer from the port of Purfleet late last night.

Minutes later, his lorry was seen driving into the Waterglade Industrial Park in Thurrock, where ambulance crews and police were called and found 39 people dead in the back, including a teenager.

Robinson - whose partner back in Northern Ireland is said be expecting a baby - was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and is today at the centre of one Britain's biggest ever murder investigations.

His stunned brother back home told BelfastLive the family hadn't heard from him and 'don't know what is going on'.

A family friend also stated that they had been 'told nothing' by the UK authorities who haven't even informed them whether or not he had been arrested.

Local residents have also spoken about the incident with some saying 'they couldn't believe' something like that would happen in their area.

Police officers were shown to be lined up next to the lorry today and bowed their head in respect for those who had died in the tragedy

Police officers bowed their heads as the truck passed. Detectives have begun the process of trying to identify 39 bodies found in a lorry on an industrial estate in Essex

Mo Robinson is the truck driver arrested after 39 people were found dead in the back of a lorry he was driving

Today officers were pictured bowing their heads after the discovery. As locals claimed there had been reports of people climbing out of lorries

Officers (pictured above) who were keeping guard of the lorry before it departed had bowed their heads in respect for those who lost their lives in the vehicle

A border force lorry arrives at the Port of Tilbury in Essex where the lorry that 39 bodies were found inside has been moved to

Floral tributes were left at the scene tonight and three bunches of flowers were pictured - left in tribute for those who died

Police officers remained at the scene this evening, which had been cordoned off following the discovery

Police have found 39 dead bodies in the back of a lorry container on an Essex industrial estate. The lorry appears to have a refrigeration unit between the cab and the container leading experts to suggest those inside may have frozen to death

Robinson arrived in the UK at the weekend. He picked up the trailer, which had been shipped from Zeebrugge to Purfleet, yesterday evening. Minutes later, he pulled into the Essex industrial estate and the alarm was raised

The lorry, which is believed to have the bodies still inside it, was removed from the scene under police escort this afternoon

The trailer Robinson collected had been delivered to Purfleet by ship from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge at around midnight last night.

What is it like freezing to death? Shivering and hallucinations as your body battles to keep vital organs active The first step in freezing to death is a raised heart rate and an increase in breathing as your blood seeks to protect internal organs by slowing the flow to the extremities. In an attempt to generate heat, your body will now start to shiver. Hypothermia takes just 10 minutes to set in at -1C (30.F). Organs shut down and the body goes into shock when the heart struggles to pump blood. At this point your liver and kidneys are at risk of failing. Once your body temperature is below 35C (95F), every one-degree drop reduces your brain's ability to produce oxygen by three to five per cent. This causes weakness and confusion and, once you're below 33C (91F), amnesia. Your body gives up shivering once below 31C (88F). Your blood thickens and oxygen intake drops by 25 per cent. The body feels a desperate need to urinate as the kidneys try to process excess fluids forced in by the constriction of your extremities. The heat stops functioning properly once your temperature hits 30C (86F) and pumps 66 per cent less blood than usual. Hallucinations occur due to the lack of oxygen and slow metabolism of the brain. Nerve damage causes people to lose rationality at this point, leading some to undress despite the freezing conditions. Others have been known to burrow and enter small spaces in an apparent attempt of self-protection before they inevitably die. Advertisement

CCTV shows Robinson's truck driving into the industrial estate at 1.10am and the police arrived around half an hour later. Neither the nationality of the victims, nor the origin of the container before it got to Zeebrugge, is currently known.

The truck was removed from the scene this afternoon, with the 39 victims still believed to be inside, as police begin the process of identifying them.

Local resident tonight told local reporters that there had been reports of people climbing out of lorries nearby.

One lady who lives very close to the industrial park where the lorry was found said: 'I just can't believe it. You hear about these things going on but you don't expect it to happen here.

'My heart goes out to everyone involved.' This is while another woman said that while there had been reports of people climbing out of lorries, but that she 'hadn't personally seen it'.

The container was reported to be owned by the Irish company GTR Trailers. The Dublin-based firm hires out huge shipping containers to companies across Europe.

The company was unavailable to comment today. It is believed they would have had a record of when the container was taken to Zeebrugge and who had rented the unit from them.

This evening local DUP councillor Paul Berry told MailOnline that Robson's parents have assumed the father-to-be has been held because so many people have told them.

'I've spoken to the family a couple of times,' he said. 'At this stage they haven't been informed of anything and the police don't have to in these circumstances.

'Obviously they are very distraught. His mother is incredibly as well as his partner. They are just waiting for news. People keep ringing them up and asking 'is it true?' but they just don't know.

'They contacted police themselves but a sergeant said he couldn't tell them anything. It does seem unfair. The family at least should know that he has been arrested.'

Speaking this afternoon, Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills said: 'In order to ensure we maintain the dignity of the people who sadly lost their lives, we will be moving the lorry and the trailer shortly.'

She said they were being moved to nearby Tilbury Docks so the bodies can be recovered while preserving the dignity of the victims.

'We are yet to identify them and must manage this sensitively with their families,' she added.

The city of Varna in Bulgaria where it has been reported that the lorry where 39 victims froze to death at Grays in Essex this morning was registered to a Irish Woman

The Scania truck has the words 'Ireland' and 'The Ultimate Dream' on the windscreen. It was examined by forensics teams

Photos show the inside of the refrigerated trailer where 39 people were found dead in the early hours of this morning

The lorry was later given a police escort as it snaked its way through the Thames Estuary docklands roads. Officers on the pavement bowed their heads in a mark of respect.

Truck driver Robinson is still being questioned. He regularly posts about the Bulgarian-registered Scania truck cab on his Instagram and Facebook pages, referring to it as 'the Scandinavian Express' and 'the Polar Express'.

Tonight Channel 4 decided to postpone the broadcast of a programme called Smuggled in the wake of the discovery.

The two-part documentary sees eight members of the public try to enter the UK from Europe by evading border checks.

The broadcaster has described it as an 'unprecedented national security experiment'.

A screening of Smuggled had been planned for Thursday but was cancelled after the discovery of the trailer in the early hours of Wednesday.

A spokeswoman said: 'In light of the tragic events today we have postponed the transmission of the series.'

It comes as a haulage boss in Northern Ireland told MailOnline: 'I've been told that Mo Robinson was the one who was driving the truck, but he doesn't own it. It's owned by a local lorry business.'

Footage recorded by a business on the Waterglade Industrial Park, Thurrock shows the left-hand drive truck passing through the estate just half an hour before an ambulance crew discovered the bodies of 38 adults and a teenager in the back.

The lorry was reportedly registered in Bulgaria by an Irish company in 2017, then driven out of the eastern-European country to Northern Ireland. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said his country had no other connection with the deaths.

Robinson regularly posts photos of the Bulgarian-registered truck online. It is not however thought that he owns the vehicle

Among his many messages about the Scania lorry, Robinson refers to it as 'the Scandinavian express' and 'the polar express'. He often travels to Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands

The trailer is understood to be refrigerated, meaning temperatures inside could have been as low as -25C.

Describing the conditions inside, Road Haulage Association chief executive Richard Burnett said, if the was refrigerated was switched on, conditions inside would have been 'absolutely horrendous' and would kill anyone inside 'pretty quickly'.

Mr Burnett added: '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.'

The deaths will lead to renewed calls for added checks on vehicles entering Britain through so-called 'soft spot' ports, with Border Force resources currently focused on Dover.

In Parliament, Prime Minister Boris Johnson put aside the Brexit crisis, at least for a few minutes, and vowed that the people traffickers would be found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

'All such traders in human beings should be hunted down and brought to justice,' he said.

Aerial pictures show screens have been put around the back of the white lorry, with forensics tents placed nearby. Police have not said where those who died are from

Police in forensics suits were seen worked on the cab end of the lorry this morning. The origin of the container is unknown

Police believe the trailer was picked up from the port of Purfleet (pictured) minutes before the bodies were discovered

During Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price said: 'To put 39 people into a locked metal container shows a contempt for human life that is evil. The best thing we can do in memory of those victims is to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.'

Responding, Boris Johnson said: 'It is hard to put ourselves in the shoes of those emergency services, as the right honourable gentleman opposite (Jeremy Corbyn) said, as they were asked to open that container and to expose the appalling crime that had taken place.

'I must say I do share his strong desire now for the perpetrators of that crime, and indeed all those who engage in similar activity - because we know that this trade is going on - all such traders in human beings should be hunted down and brought to justice.'

Irish premier Leo Varadkar said any necessary investigations would be undertaken if it was established the lorry had passed through Ireland.

'The information that we have so far this morning is very sketchy but there are some reports that the truck may have passed through Ireland at some point,' he told the Dail parliament in Dublin.

The police have cordoned off the lorry while forensics experts gather evidence from the lorry

Large screens have been put up around the lorry while the murder investigation takes place

It is the biggest disaster of its kind since 2000, when 58 Chinese stowaways died on a ferry from Belgium to Britain.

Today's tragedy has claimed more victims than the Manchester Arena bombing, in which 22 were killed.

In 2015, 71 migrants, including eight women and four children, were found dead in the back of a Slovakian meat lorry which was abandoned truck on an Austrian motorway.

The industrial estate where the lorry was found today is next to the Dartford Crossing and is used as a stopping point for lorries travelling south to the Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel, although the planned route of the lorry involved is unknown.

Lithuanian lorry driver Tadas Cesnavicius works in the area. The 40-year-old said: 'You see a lot of lorries coming in and out the area, but whether they have people inside who knows? It is terrible to hear it happened right in the next road.'

Emergency services sent five ambulances, their hazardous area response teams and a car from the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance to the scene.

A restaurant worker in the industrial estate said the area was cordoned off by police this morning.

'There's a lot of police and forensics,' the Big Blue Food Bus employee said. 'It's awful. We thought maybe someone had broken into a lorry, but it's just awful.'

Essex Police said it set up a casualty bureau for people to call if they are concerned about relatives following the incident at the industrial park in Grays.

Police have not said where they believe the people had travelled from. They say it may take a long time to identify them all

Police and emergency services were called to the estate last night. They were unable to save any of those found in the container

The Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and the local MP have all stated their concern

Tragedy comes after trafficking gang jailing Today's tragedy comes less than a week after a Bulgarian trafficking gang were jailed for keeping women as sex slaves while they lived the high life. Iliya Mihaylov and Marian Ninov Vasilev Eleonora Vasileva, 34, Iliya Mihaylov, 31, and Marian Ninov Vasilev, also 34, trafficked women from their home country to squalid east London flats and forced them into a life of prostitution and Class A drug dealing. Their victims were greeted at the airport, forced to pay £200 and then moved to rented apartments. The group ran brothels across east London, and victims were rarely allowed to leave their squalid flats. The women were expected to work 24 hours a day, accepting any 'clients' immediately and unconditionally, to whom they were also forced to sell class A drugs. There is no suggestion the gang were involved in today's tragedy. Advertisement

The investigation will now try to work out where the people came from and what route they had taken to get to the UK.

Alp Mehmet, the chairman of the group Migration Watch UK, called on the government to better patrol Britain's borders to ensure such tragedies were not repeated.

He said: 'People-trafficking is a sickening business. It continues not only because the traffickers make huge amounts of money from it but are also often able to get away with it.

'The risk is that more such tragedies will occur for so long as the UK fails to properly resource the border and return those who have no right to be here, which all but encourages traffickers to ply their trade by exploiting people who put their lives in their evil hands.'

Despite the investigation being at an early stage and it being unclear where the victims died, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has already blamed the British government.

The charity's chief executive Satbir Singh said: '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.'

Bulgarian foreign ministry spokesman Tsvetana Krasteva said: 'We are in contact with our embassy in London and with British authorities.'

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said: 'We are aware of this tragic incident which is now the subject of a murder investigation being led by Essex Police and we have deployed NCA officers to assist.

'We are working with partners including Essex Police and Immigration Enforcement to provide specialist support to urgently identify and take action against any organised crime groups who might have played a role in causing these deaths.'

The Essex Police casualty bureau numbers are 0800 056 0944 for callers living in the UK, or 0207 158 0010 for people dialling from outside the UK, the force said.