Belgian port authority says could not have detected bodies found in UK-bound truck

Record ID: 1438496

  • Title: Belgian port authority says could not have detected bodies found in UK-bound truck
  • Date: 24th October 2019
  • Summary: ZEEBRUGGE, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 24, 2019) (REUTERS) TRUCKS GOING THROUGH ENTRANCE TO ZEEBRUGGE PORT SIGN FOR FREIGHT ENTRANCE TRUCKS ON ROAD TO PORT SIGN READING (English): "CAMERA CONTROL" TRUCK ENTERING PORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRUGES MAYOR AND CHAIR OF ZEEBRUGGE PORT, DIRK DE FAUW, SAYING: "We have private firms and we have police with dogs. If they smell something, at that time they open the trailer. Even when they go to the scanning, they can see if there is something hot in it, then can open it. But with a box so closed as this trailer, it is not possible. Everything is so cold inside, like it is... the total of the box, so you have no difference and it's not possible to detect something in it." TRUCK DRIVER SHOWING PAPERS TO PORT EMPLOYEE SIGN READING (English): "BARRIER CLOSES AFTER EACH VEHICLE DRIVE SLOW KEEP DISTANCE" TRUCK ENTERING PORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRUGES MAYOR AND CHAIR OF ZEEBRUGGE PORT, DIRK DE FAUW, SAYING: "If they had to open every container or every truck which is sealed and papers are ok, there would be trucks from here to Brussels. Everyday there are 4,000 trucks coming to that port and they are leaving that port to the United Kingdom, to Ireland, to Norway and so on." VARIOUS OF TRUCK DRIVER SHOWING PAPERS TO PORT EMPLOYEE TRUCK DRIVING ON ROAD TO PORT SIGN FOR PORT ZEEBRUGGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRUGES MAYOR AND CHAIR OF ZEEBRUGGE PORT, DIRK DE FAUW, SAYING: "Yes but I do not believe that many people are putting human beings in such a box. Because they must know, everybody must know that when you are putting people - and especially here, 39 people in one box - you can say it's nearly sure that they will die. There is no air enough in that box to get eight hours or more (of oxygen)." VARIOUS OF CONTAINERS BEING MOVED AROUND IN PORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRUGES MAYOR AND CHAIR OF ZEEBRUGGE PORT, DIRK DE FAUW, SAYING: "So we have a safe system with safety guards, we have cameras everywhere, we have policemen in the streets of Zeebrugge, in the dunes with horses... If it was so easy to get on a ship in Zeebrugge there would be not 50 migrants in a month, but there would be thousands like there is in France." CONTAINERS TRUCK ENTERING SHIP SHIP DOCKED AT PORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRUGES MAYOR AND CHAIR OF ZEEBRUGGE PORT, DIRK DE FAUW, SAYING: "I think that this is... for me, I think they were dead before they are coming here to Zeebrugge. I think so."
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2019 14:20
  • Keywords: 39 people dead truck Chinese nationals port of Zeebrugge Essex
  • Location: ZEEBRUGGE, BELGIUM
  • City: ZEEBRUGGE, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B2GJMFB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The head of the Zeebrugge port said on Thursday (October 24) it was not possible for them to detect the 39 people who were found dead in a truck near London on Wednesday (October 23) when they went through the Belgian port.
    Paramedics and police found the bodies of 31 men and eight women on Wednesday in a truck container on an industrial estate at Grays in Essex, about 20 miles (32 km) east of London. The trailer part of the truck arrived at Purfleet docks in Essex, southern England, from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.
    Belgium's federal prosecutors, who handle cases of terrorism and organised crime, said on Thursday they had opened an investigation into the transport. Prosecutors said it was unclear when and where the victims were loaded inside.
    Dirk De Fauw, the mayor of Bruges and the chair of Zeebrugge port, said that security at the port was high, with sniffer dogs, heat scanners to determine if people are hidden in the trucks, and patrols around the port. But he added that some trailers were too tightly sealed or too cold to allow the systems to detect a presence inside.
    British police had been given extra time on Thursday to question the driver arrested on suspicion of murder in an investigation focused on human trafficking. All those in the container - 38 adults and one teenager - were pronounced dead at the scene after the emergency services were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park, not far from docks on the River Thames.
    De Fauw told Reuters he believed they were dead before arriving in Zeebrugge.
    (Production Bart Biesemans, Hortense de Roffignac)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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