39 dead bodies recovered from truck container in east London

LONDON: At least 39 dead bodies were found in the container of a truck by British police who are thought to have come from Bulgaria, foreign media reported on Wednesday.

British police said 39 dead bodies were found Wednesday in the container of a truck thought to have come from Bulgaria.

“This is a tragic incident where a large number of people have lost their lives,” Essex Police said in a statement, saying the fatalities were pronounced dead at the scene in an industrial park in Grays, east of London, AFP reported.

British media reported that the bodies were found in a lorry on the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, at roughly 1.40 am this morning.

It is understood the lorry was originally from Bulgaria and was travelling from Holyhead, Wales, where ferries sail to and from Ireland.

The lorry’s driver, a 24-year-old man from Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder, DailyMail.co.uk reported.

The investigation will now try to work out where the people who died came from and what route they had taken to get to the UK.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he is ‘appalled’ and that his thoughts are with those who lost their lives and their loved ones.