Truck driver charged with manslaughter of 39 people in U.K., as Vietnamese families fear relatives among the dead

Maurice Robinson, a 25-year-old from Northern Ireland, was charged Saturday with the manslaughter of 39 people found inside a refrigerated trailer of the truck he was driving in England on Wednesday. Robinson has also been charged with people trafficking, immigration, and money laundering offenses, police said.

The deaths may be related to human trafficking, and while police have said they cannot confirm the victims' nationality at this time, several Vietnamese families have come forward with information that their relatives may be among the dead. Father Anthony Dang Huu Nam, a Catholic priest in the Vietnamese town of Yen Thahn, said he is working with family members of the victims, who told him they knew relatives who were making the journey to Britain at the time Robinson's truck would have been on the move. The family members said they have been unable to contact those relatives, and the Vietnamese ministry of foreign affairs said it has asked the Vietnamese embassy in London to collaborate with police in the hopes of identifying the victims.

In addition to Robinson, two men and one woman are being held in policy custody in relation to the deaths. Read more at The Guardian and BBC.

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