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One man recorded a final message for his wife and children, saying, “I’m sorry. I can’t take care of you, ”as he suffocated in the back of a truck with 38 other Vietnamese immigrants, a court has heard.
Jurors at the London Old Bailey trial of an alleged human smuggling gang were informed of attempts to raise the alarm when the 39 men, women and children ran out of air while being smuggled across the Canal. of the Stain in a sealed container.
Vietnamese nationals, aged 15 to 44, were reportedly trapped in the trailer for 12 hours in temperatures of up to 38.5 degrees before being found at Purfleet in Essex on October 23, 2019.
The trial heard that they may have died because “greedy” human traffickers tried to make two charges in one.
Truck driver Eamonn Harrison (23), of Mayobridge, Co Down, and Gheorghe Nica (43), of Basildon, Essex, deny 39 counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Mr. Harrison, Christopher Kennedy (24) of Co Armagh and Valentin Calota (37) of Birmingham deny being part of a broader human smuggling operation, which Nica has admitted.
The court has previously heard that four other defendants have already admitted their involvement in the human trafficking plot.
Among them are Maurice Robinson (26) of Craigavon, who found the 39 dead immigrants in the container after picking it up in Purfleet, and carrier Ronan Hughes (41), of Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, who admitted murder.
Mr. Harrison allegedly left the container at the Zeebrugge ferry port just before 2pm on October 22 last year.
It was loaded onto the MV Clementine at 2.52 pm, and the ship sailed 36 minutes late at 3.36 pm
By 6.25pm, the temperature in the trailer had risen to nearly 35 degrees.
The suffocating conditions were demonstrated in three selfies taken by victim Pham Thi Tra My (26), which were shown to the court.
Just before 7 p.m., another victim, Nguyen Dinh Luong (20), tried to call the Vietnamese emergency services, dialing 133, but did not connect.
For the next several minutes, Pham Thi Tra My made repeated attempts to make calls on her mobile.
At 7.37 pm, Nguyen Tho Tuan (25), recorded a message in Vietnamese for his wife, children and family.
“It’s Tuan. Sorry. I can’t take care of you. Sorry. Sorry. I can’t breathe, ”he said. “I want to go back to my family. Have a good life. “
In a mobile phone video recorded at 8:02 pm, a voice says: “I can’t breathe… I can’t breathe. Sorry. I have to go now.”
In a second video file on the same mobile phone, recorded a minute later, the same voice repeats that it is sorry, and after a long pause it adds: “It’s all my fault.”
Prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones told jurors that a voice could be heard in the background of one of the recordings saying, “He’s dead.”
By 9:02 p.m., the temperature in the trailer had reportedly reached 38 degrees.
A forensic expert estimated that it would have taken about nine hours for the air in the trailer to become toxic, shortly after causing death.
Jurors heard how Hughes had instructed Robinson on what to do when he picked up the container at Purfleet.
In a Snapchat message, Hughes told her, “Give them air quickly, but don’t let them out.”
Emlyn Jones told jurors: “Of course, they were right to be concerned. However, they were too late. “
After picking up the container, CCTV showed Robinson park, walk to the back of the truck, and open the door slightly. He took a step back and stood there for 90 seconds before slowly walking back to his taxi, the court heard.
Robinson didn’t call 999 until 1.36 a.m., after driving and speaking with Hughes.
Emlyn Jones suggested that the Oct. 23 trip turned into a tragedy because the smugglers simply got “too greedy.” – PA
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