- Title: Majority of 39 UK truck victims likely from Vietnam - priest
- Date: 26th October 2019
- Summary: YEN THANH, NGHE AN PROVINCE, VIETNAM (OCTOBER 26, 2019) (REUTERS) RICE PADDY FIELD PEOPLE ON MOTORCYCLES GOING PAST FATHER ANTHONY DANG HUU NAM PUSHING CATHOLIC CHURCH DOOR NAM SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Vietnamese) FATHER ANTHONY DANG HUU NAM SAYING: "According to a few sources that have told me, in this case there were many people, more than 100 were on their way to a new life, but 39 died. A few families confirmed the deaths of their relatives who are the victims of this tragic journey." SIGN READING (Vietnamese): "SUNDAY SCHOOL, MY THANH COMMUNE" (SOUNDBITE) (Vietnamese) FATHER ANTHONY DANG HUU NAM SAYING: "When I learnt of the news of the people who died on their way to the UK in search of a new life, but lost their lives instead, not only the district of Yen Thanh but perhaps the whole country is in sorrow. This is a tragedy that the whole country has to bear." EXTERIOR OF CATHOLIC CHURCH NAM WALKING OUT PEOPLE WALKING, VEHICLES DRIVING PAST VARIOUS OF PERSON IN RICE PADDY FIELD CARS
- Embargoed: 9th November 2019 09:36
- Keywords: Vietnam priest Britain bodies truck
- Location: YEN THANH, NGHE AN PROVINCE, VIETNAM
- City: YEN THANH, NGHE AN PROVINCE, VIETNAM
- Country: Vietnam
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B2QF8SN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The majority of the 39 people found dead in the back of a truck near London were likely from Vietnam, a community leader from the rural, rice-growing community where many of the victims are believed to have come from told Reuters on Saturday (October 26).
The discovery of the bodies - 38 adults and one teenager - was made on Wednesday (October 23) after emergency services were alerted to people in a truck container on an industrial site in Grays, about 32 km (20 miles) east of central London.
Police have said they believe the dead were Chinese but Beijing said the nationalities had not yet been confirmed. Chinese and Vietnamese officials are now both working closely with British police, their respective embassies have said.
Father Anthony Dang Huu Nam, a Catholic priest in the remote town of Yen Thanh in northern-central Vietnam's Nghe An province, 300 km (180 miles) south of Hanoi, said he was liaising with family members of the victims. Nam said families told him they knew relatives were traveling to the UK at the time and had been unable to contact their loved ones.
Nghe An is one of Vietnam's poorest provinces, and home to many victims of human trafficking who end up in Europe, according to a March report by the Pacific Links Foundation, a U.S.-based anti-trafficking organization. Other victims are believed to come from the neighboring province of Ha Tinh, Nam said, where in the first eight months of this year, 41,790 people left looking for work elsewhere, including overseas, according to state media.
Vietnam's foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday that it had instructed its London embassy to assist British police with the identification of victims. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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