Nah, a refrigerated lorry is used so migrants can’t be detected by the thermal cameras in the docks. Too cold to show up
39 Bodies found in a lorry in Essex.
- Thread starter Rooney24
- Start date
How would that work though? The human body can only cool down by a relatively few amount of degrees until hypothermia sets in - so you d figure bodies will show if they're still alive regardless of how cold it is inside.
https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/lorry-victims-horror-journey-hands-17143494
Reading this article, the source would lead you to believe that the driver was paid knowing what he was driving
Reading this article, the source would lead you to believe that the driver was paid knowing what he was driving
That was so awful, they were in the dark and they all drowned. They didn't know about the fast incoming tides in Morecambe Bay and they set out too late.
I was just thinking about that but I don't know enough about the process.
In the normal course of events when the driver gets to his destination the container would have to be unloaded while he was present, in order for him to drive it back, wouldn't it?
I guess the big Question to be answered is why did he open the Unit at that point?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-bear-responsibility-says-chinese-state-media
Pretty interesting that the British Authorities are being blamed. The streets of the UK aren't paved in gold, the Snakeheads probably make it sound that way but they've no intention of freeing these people once they arrive. They keep the immigrants passports leaving them papers less and set them to work forever paying their 'debt' back.
Curious as to what extent the UK is to blame if at all.
Pretty interesting that the British Authorities are being blamed. The streets of the UK aren't paved in gold, the Snakeheads probably make it sound that way but they've no intention of freeing these people once they arrive. They keep the immigrants passports leaving them papers less and set them to work forever paying their 'debt' back.
Curious as to what extent the UK is to blame if at all.
China should bear some responsibility as well.
It is not a container, a container is a metal box used for shipping on a ship without wheels which can be stacked on top of each other and can be loaded onto a container trailer in order to go on the road. Not what the terrible coverage on TV and newspapers say.
The unit that was used is a road vehicle, a trailer,with wheels and cannot be stacked. A tractor unit (lorry/cab) will have delivered the trailer to Zeebrugge and left the port. Another tractor unit belonging to the port would have towed it onto the ferry. Another tractor unit belonging to the port in Purfleet would have towed the trailer off the ferry and the tractor unit driven by this Irish guy would have collected the trailer from the port. At no point would the trailer be opened unless requested by customs.
It's Chinese state media. Not really worth giving any credence to. For one, they didn't magically appear in the UK, they'd have crossed many more borders before arriving on our rainy little island.
The State media doesn't print anything the Chinese Govt. doesn't approve of though does it? Therefore I'm thinking it is what the Chinese want their people to believe and not in any fault (?) of theirs or their criminals?
Chinese still embarrassed because their “subjects” want to flee China so they grasp hold of the narrative that the U.K. is to blame. These truck loads of Chinese are a regular occurrence over here, certainly in the North and NW anyway.
I've noticed you make this distinction a few times and lambast the media for getting it wrong, which I don't blame you for at all and similar details bug me at times but is there any relevance to the distinction between a container and a trailer in the framing of the story?
Genuinely curious; I mean does it being a trailer rather than a container mean the way it moves through ports is different from the perspective of checks carried out and who would have been in contact with it etc?
They love to take shots at Western democracies so it's an opportunity to do so. It's all about glorifying the image of China and her governance.
Meanwhile they'll quietly investigate the initial crime and just as quietly dispose of the smugglers bodies.
Europe continually gets the blame for economic migration, what can be done to disabuse people of their false notions.
Yes , the pictures shown on TV and in the papers show containers being loaded on top of each other in stacks whereas this is purely a road vehicle and would be in a different part of the port.
Would that make it subject to more/less checks from customs officials etc?
I'd imagine it would be close to impossible in China because the government have so much control over the media.
I'd speculate these reasons as to why this has happened in the UK twice now and not other European countries.
1. Only France has a higher Chinese population than the UK in Europe and only France, Italy, the UK and Spain have significant Chinese populations.
2. The extra sea border crossing leads to more difficulty in smuggling successfully.
It's happened with different nationalities in different countries before - 71 bodies found in truck in Austria. I realise we are talking primarily about Chinese of course but it isn't just a Chinese or UK issue.
I think it'd be better to talk about the motivations for people wanting to economically migrate to the EU.. and UK.
It looks more like it might be the human slave trade, rather than asylum seekers, it has similar connotations to previous incidents and it appears these poor devils may have originated from the same area in China where the cockle-pickers (Morecombe bay)and the previous ones that died in a lorry (20 years ago) came from.
It was mentioned somewhere recently that in the last 15-20 years China's economic growth has helped to lift something like 100m people out of abject poverty, but clearly not in the region where these people came from!
It was mentioned somewhere recently that in the last 15-20 years China's economic growth has helped to lift something like 100m people out of abject poverty, but clearly not in the region where these people came from!
Difference between asylum and economic which I believe these people may initially have been.
My question was around what happens this unit once the driver reaches his destination. Does he leave it there and drive off, meaning he may not be aware of anything or is it his responsibility to bring the unit back, meaning he would have to be around to see these people get out had they survived?
Such a horrible story. I wasn't aware this was going on to the extent reported since yesterday. To think we could be driving next to one of these trucks on any given day, with 30+ souls on board risking their lives for something we hardly even think of. Terrible to think there might even be multiple containers like this on a ship with 5000+ TEU 
It's a rental trailer and it doesn't look as if it was him who rented it but it depends on the instructions he received from whoever instructed him to pick up the trailer from Purfleet. He could have been told to collect the trailer and leave it somewhere or if he was the one to return it to the rental company he would have had to unload it first.
Did he know what was inside. Another queston is was the refrigeration unit turned on at any point and did he know if he had to. Lots of questions.
Probably not much difference, however being a refrigerated unit probably meant that it was less likely to be checked because they wouldn't imagine that human beings would be inside.
I watched a documentary on this last night. They played a 999 recording of one of the cockle pickers, so much panic in his voice shouting ‘sinking water, sinking water'
There was a migration expert on Radio 4 yesterday. He said they are generally low educated Chinese people promised a pot of gold by traffickers. The surprising thing is that it costs them about $40000 for passage, a family will end up selling their property to fund one member making the journey under the false impression they'll earn enough to look after the whole family.
They tend to end up working in conditions where they are only allowed to sleep and work.
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A Man and a Woman arrested in Warrington in connection with this.
Won't be murder. Likely manslaughter and human trafficking given how many. Interesting case. Certainly an OCG.
Four people in custody now. All appear to be Irish which suggests an Irish organised crime group involved.
Really sad to read the dying text messages from one of the Vietnamese victims. £30,000 paid by her family to get her to the UK.
Really sad to read the dying text messages from one of the Vietnamese victims. £30,000 paid by her family to get her to the UK.
The driver is responsible for the content of the trailer but is he responsible for the content of a container since they are sealed, in theory only customs and the recipient are supposed to open it?
Please, there is no container but yes a container is sealed. If customs opened it , it would have to be re-sealed. In theory he is responsible for the contents of the trailer but it's not sealed.
I know that there is no container in that case, I was just mentioning one distinction between the two. It has an implication in that particular case.
OK, I see what you mean, if it was a sealed container then the driver can't be responsible for the content, he should have an accompanying Bill of Lading which would describe the contents for which the shipper would be responsible.
Why would the guy from armagh who was transporting the trailer have opened it? Surely he would just hook the trailer onto the cab and drive to where he was transporting it?
Or does he check his cargo (bread, mushrooms, toilet roll, whatever it is) to his bill of lading before setting of?
But if he does that the customs seal is broke?
It's containers that are often sealed not trailers, trailers are the responsiblity of the driver and they need to check their cargo when they take possession of them and often several times during transport.
Aah that explains it. So the guy from armagh lifted the trailer. Drove it a few miles to the industrial unit, checked his "cargo" seen dead bodies and rang the police?
The question then becomes when he was checking his cargo was he expecting a load of toilet roll or 39 alive humans?
Is that the jist of it?
It honestly hasn't been explained to well but i suppose the police haven't all the info themselves yet
You would think so, but when I was on the boxes it was common to get a delivery note and In the description of goods field it wood say: goods.
I don't know what he did or didn't do but in theory he should have checked his cargo when it was given to him. To make sure that it was the correct cargo and to make sure of its conditions, in the case of a refrigerated trailer I seem to remember that you have to check the temperature.
Were they delivery notes, which doesn't surprise me, or a maritime Bill of Lading which normally the shipping line would insist on a reasonably detailed description.