Return of truck victims' bodies to Vietnam begins

The first 16 bodies of the victims in the Essex truck tragedy have been returned to their native Vietnam from the United Kingdom, one month after they were found in the back of a refrigerated vehicle in southeast England.

Thirty-nine migrants, including eight women, were discovered in a truck park in Grays on Oct 23. The driver has pleaded guilty in court to a charge of assisting illegal immigration, and police are continuing to follow other lines of inquiry.

The bodies' repatriation was delayed after a period of confusion over who had responsibility and over the means of payment. Vietnam's vice-minister of foreign affairs said returning the bodies would cost each family $2,856 and although the government initially offered loans to the families, a significant amount of money to help them has been crowdfunded.

Vo Van Binh, the father of victim Vo Van Linh, told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the family were "very sad, but happy as finally my son is back", when his body was returned to Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi.

"We have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. We will organize the funeral as soon as he's returned," he said.

Most of the victims came from some of Vietnam's poorer provinces, in the interior of the country. Some of their families were encouraged to consider cremating, for the ease and reduced cost of repatriation, but many rejected the idea as they wanted the bodies returned intact for traditional burials.

Truck driver Maurice Robinson, 25, from Craigavon in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, who pleaded guilty to the charge of assisting illegal immigration, will appear in court again on Dec 13 where he could be sentenced. He has yet to offer a plea on 39 manslaughter charges.

Another man from Northern Ireland, Christopher Kennedy, of Darkley in County Armagh, appeared in court on Monday on trafficking charges, but did not enter a plea.

British police hope to extradite a third man, Eamonn Harrison, from the Republic of Ireland in connection with the case. He appeared in court in Dublin last week after a European arrest warrant was issued.