FILE PHOTO: Police move the lorry container where bodies were discovered, in Grays, Essex, Britain October 23, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s foreign ministry has confirmed reports that 39 people found dead in the back of a truck near London were Chinese, the Global Times said in a tweet on Wednesday.

The paper, published by the official People’s Daily newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party, said the foreign ministry told the newspaper “nothing could be released as of now.”

British police separately confirmed on Thursday that the dead found in the truck are Chinese nationals.

Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Toby Chopra