Essex lorry deaths: 39 dead bodies found inside truck container in UK were Chinese nationals, confirms British police

The 39 dead bodies found inside a truck container in the UK were Chinese nationals, British police said on Thursday as they continued to interrogate the Northern Irish truck driver on supposition of murdering the eight women and 31 men.

Officials in Northern Ireland have also searched three properties and the National Crime Agency stated it was working to determine "organised crime groups who may have played a part".

Police are continuing to interrogate the driver Mo Robinson, 25, on suspicion of murdering the 39 of them, the BBC reported.

The truck came to Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Ambulance staff found out the bodies in the truck container at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays in Essex, near London, on Wednesday.

Police stated the tractor unit, the front part of the lorry came from Northern Ireland and picked up the trailer from Purfleet.

"It is not yet clear when the victims were placed in the container and whether this happened in Belgium," the Belgian Federal Public Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

The truck was moved to a secure site at Tilbury Docks on Wednesday so the dead bodies could be "recovered while preserving the dignity of the victims".

Essex Police mentioned that formal identification of the bodies could be a long process.

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