Probe expands into deaths of 39 in truck near British port

British police expanded an investigation into one of the country's deadliest cases of human smuggling after 39 people were found dead in a refrigerated container truck near an English port.

Essex police said the victims were believed to be from China, though its embassy said their nationalities were still being verified.

The Essex Police force said 31 men and eight women were found dead in the truck early Wednesday at an industrial park in Grays, a town 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of London.

A magistrate gave detectives another 24 hours to question the driver, a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland who has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He has not been charged, and police have not released his name.

Police in Northern Ireland searched three properties there as detectives sought to piece together how the truck's cab, its container and the victims came together on such a deadly journey.

Pippa Mills, deputy chief of Essex Police, said the process of conducting post-mortem examinations and identifying the victims would be "lengthy and complex."
The company's directors told RTE it was "shell-shocked" at the news and that it was it was "entirely unaware that the trailer was to be used in the manner in which it appears to have been."
"Usually, if it's an ad hoc arrangement at the port, you would get a bit of a mix of nationalities."