British Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward today [October 28] met with Vietnamese officials to discuss cooperation in the identification of 39 bodies that were found in a truck in Essex, the UK on October 23.

Britain's police are in the identification process. Photo: PA

Ambassador Gareth Ward said in a statement on the UK Embassy in Hanoi's facebook that he told Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security that British police have not confirmed the identities or nationalities of the victims.

Smugglers normally take the passports of their passengers to obscure their identities, stripping them of their names and giving them new documents when they arrive at their destinations, according to AP.

Initially, British police believed the victims were Chinese, but later acknowledged that details about the bodies found last Wednesday were still evolving.

Following the case, more than 20 families in Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An and Ha Tinh have reported missing relatives whom they fear to be among the dead.

Police in the two provinces came to the families to collect samples of hair and fingernail of missing people’s parents to serve the identification process.

Ambassador Ward said in a statement Monday that the British government is aware of Vietnamese concern and that he discussed how Britain would work closely with Vietnam on the identification process.

On October 28, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Thanh Son was quoted by the VNExpress that they have received from British authorities the documents of four of the deaths to help determine whether any of them are Vietnamese.

British authorities charged the 25-year-old truck driver with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. He was expected in court Monday. Three other people have been arrested in connection to the case.- Hanoitimes

Linh Pham