British police find 39 bodies in truck believed to have come from Bulgaria

British police found the bodies of 39 people inside a truck container believed to have come from Bulgaria at an industrial estate to the east of London on Wednesday.

The discovery of the bodies – 38 adults and one teenager – was made in the early hours after emergency services were alerted to people in the container at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, not far from docks on the River Thames.

In Britain’s biggest human trafficking tragedy in 2000, British customs officials found the bodies of 58 Chinese people crammed into a tomato truck at the southern port of Dover.

Police on Wednesday said the driver of the truck, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland, had been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was appalled. “I am receiving regular updates and the Home Office will work closely with Essex Police as we establish exactly what has happened,” Johnson said on Twitter. “My thoughts are with all those who lost their lives & their loved ones.”

He later said that all those involved in people-trafficking should be hunted down to face justice.

“It is hard to put ourselves in the shoes of those emergency services as they were asked to open that container and to expose the appalling crime that had taken place,” Johnson told parliament.

“We know that this trade is going on. All such traders in human beings should be hunted down and brought to justice.”

Police said the truck was thought to have entered Britain at Holyhead, a North Wales port that is a major entry point for traffic from Ireland, on Saturday and to have originally started its journey in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said it could not confirm at this stage whether the truck had started its journey from the country.

“We are still checking the information, published in the British media and we’re contacting the authorities,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Tsvetana Krasteva said.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Irish authorities would carry out any investigations necessary if it was established that the truck had passed through Ireland.

Police officers in forensic suits were on Wednesday inspecting a large white container on a red truck next to warehouses at the site. Police had sealed off the surrounding area of the industrial estate with large green barriers as they carried out their investigation.

“This is a tragic incident where a large number of people have lost their lives. We are in the process of identifying the victims, however I anticipate that this could be a lengthy process,” said Chief Superintendent Andrew Mariner, from Essex Police.

“We have arrested the lorry driver in connection with the incident who remains in police custody as our enquiries continue.”

Nearby businesses said they had been unable to gain access to their units on the site due to the large police cordon.

“The police came in the night – they have closed the whole area,” said a worker at a nearby cafe, who declined to give his name.

British home secretary Priti Patel said on Twitter that she was “shocked & saddened by this utterly tragic incident in Grays”.

“Such tragic news on loss of life,” tweeted Brandon Lewis, a junior interior minister. “Thoughts are with victims, their families & friends. Police are working to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.”

For years, illegal immigrants have attempted to reach Britain stowed away in the back of trucks, often seeking to reach the United Kingdom from the European mainland.

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the latest deaths were an unbelievable human tragedy that needed answers.

“Can we just think for a moment of what it must have been like for those 39 people, obviously in a desperate and dangerous situation, for their lives to end, suffocated to death in a container,” he said.