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British police block and examine the scene and discover 39 bodies – Photo: REUTERS
Those are the last words that Nguyen Tho Tuan of Nghe An sent to his wife and children in the last moments of his life.
Tuan and 38 others, including one as young as 15, have not seen the British sun forever and breathed their last in a container from Belgium to England.
The trial of those on the line that led 39 Vietnamese to illegally cross the border into the UK began on October 7 and is expected to last around 6 weeks.
During the October 9 trial, the victims’ British juries were heard again. The prosecutor at trial said 39 people in the container may have died from the line organizers’ greed to crowd two trucks into one.
The bodies of the victims were found in a container in Essex, south-east England, on October 23, 2019 after a journey from the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium. The container was then transported to Purfleet, where the bodies were found.
At around 7pm on October 22, almost 5 hours before the container arrived at the port of Anh, Nguyen Dinh Luong (20 years old) tried to call the Vietnam hotline 133 (possibly 113 – PV) but failed.
According to the prosecutor, because they were in the container, the people inside did not receive telephone reception, the cooling system was also turned off.
At 7:37 p.m., Nguyen Tho Tuan (37 years old) recorded the words of the crescent in Vietnamese to his wife and children. “Yes, I’m sorry. I can’t take care of your mother anymore. I’m sorry. I can’t breathe. I have to go. Your mother must live well.”
During another recording at 8:02 p.m., another voice was heard saying “I can’t breathe.” “It’s all my fault,” said a voice in the container.
The container arrived in British ports after midnight and remained sealed for at least 12 hours, causing the temperature inside to rise too high.
A forensic expert estimated that it will take about 9 hours for indoor air to turn into a gas that people cannot breathe. “Death will come shortly after,” the AFP news agency quoted the forensic agency as saying.
According to prosecutor Bill Emlyn Jones, the owner of the company that owns the container, Ronan Hughes, instructed driver Maurice Robinson to “give them air quickly but do not let them out” after receiving the container at Purfleet.
Security camera footage showed that Robinson had stopped the car after “receiving the merchandise,” he returned and opened the door slightly. He took a step back and was stunned for about 90 seconds before returning to the front of the car.
Robinson calls Hugsfollowed by a UK 999 hotline to report the bodies inside. Robinson and Hughes plead guilty to murder and human trafficking.
Eamonn Harrison, 23, who is believed to have driven the truck to Zeebrugge, and Georghe Nica, 43, denied 39 counts of manslaughter. Valentin Calota, 37, and Christopher Kennedy, 24, have pleaded not guilty to human trafficking, according to AFP.
