Eamonn Harrison, 23, from County Down, has been extradited from Ireland to the UK
A lorry driver has been extradited from Ireland to the UK to face charges over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants who were found in a container in Essex.
Eamonn Harrison, 23, from Mayobridge in County Down, Northern Ireland, allegedly drove the trailer to Zeebrugge in Belgium before it sailed to Purfleet in England.
Harrison, who is Irish, faces 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
An Essex Police spokesman said: ‘We can confirm he is in our custody. We will release more information about proceedings when we are able.’
Harrison was set to appear via video link at Southend Magistrates’ Court today.
The bodies of the Vietnamese nationals were found on an industrial estate in Grays shortly after the container arrived in Purfleet on a ferry on October 23.
Among the men, women and children were 10 teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys.
The victims had died up to 12 hours before driver Maurice Robinson, 25, hitched it to his Scania cab in Essex.
Harrison faces 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration after 39 bodies were found in a lorry in Essex (pictured) in October
The victims had died up to 12 hours before driver Maurice Robinson (pictured), 25, hitched it to his Scania cab in Essex
Some sent text messages saying they ‘couldn’t breathe’ in the refrigerated unit which reached temperatures as low as minus 25C.
The bodies of the victims, who all died of hypothermia or asphyxia, were found 30 minutes after he drove away.
Thirty of the group were from Vietnam’s poverty-stricken provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh, which are said to be the heartlands of the country’s trafficking trade.
An Essex Police investigation into an alleged people-smuggling ring linked to the deaths led to charges against five men, including Robinson.
The lorry driver from Craigavon in Northern Ireland admitted 39 counts of manslaughter at the Old Bailey in April after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Pham Tra My, 26, has been confirmed as among the 39 people who died in a lorry in Essex
Fifteen-year-old Nguyen Huy Hung (left) was the youngest of the group, 10 of whom were teenagers. Nguyen Dinh Lurong, 20, (right) was also named among those who died
The victims were were from five provinces in the central, coastal area of Vietnam and two provinces near Hanoi
He also admitted acquiring criminal property, but denied a further charge of transferring criminal property.
Robinson was jointly charged with British-Romanian Gheorghe Nica, 43, from Langdon Hills, Essex, who denied 39 counts of manslaughter.
Nica also denied one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Romanian national Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 27, from Tilbury, Essex, denied a charge of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Christopher Kennedy, 23, from Darkley, Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, had previously denied conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
The fifth defendant, Valentin Calota, 37, from Birmingham, was not asked to enter a plea to the charge of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration.
Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones QC said a human trafficking conspiracy charge in relation to Kennedy and Robinson was being dropped by the Crown.
Robinson’s four co-defendants face trial at the Old Bailey, lasting up to eight weeks from October 5.
Alongside the UK probe, police in Vietnam arrested eight people over the deaths, according to state media.