UK police launch probe into case of 39 dead bodies found in a lorry

The police in the United Kingdom has launched an investigation after it recovered 39 dead bodies from a container truck in the city of Essex.

According to reports, the police in Essex immediately called emergency services after arresting the driver of the lorry believed to have been driven from Bulgaria.

Chief Superintendent Andrew Mariner said on Wednesday that authorities are in the process of trying to identify the 38 adults and one teenager found in the lorry.

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The 25-year-old driver from Northern Ireland was arrested on suspicion of murder, the police said.

Al Jazeera’s Paul Brennan reporting from London said the lorry entered the UK mainland at port of Holyhead in North Wales, which is “the transit point for freights and lorries coming in from Northern Ireland”.

“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.

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