British police have sent documents to Vietnam for verification on four of the 39 victims found dead inside a lorry in Britain last week, said a Vietnamese deputy foreign minister Bui Thanh on Monday morning.
Son told reporters during a National Assembly meeting that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was yet to receive the papers to run the verification process and thus none of the victims has been confirmed, he added.
The tragedy came to light last Wednesday when police received reports about 39 bodies found in a lorry at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, about 30km east of London.
Police initially suspected the victims to be Chinese nationals, but they shifted their efforts to identify the victims among the Vietnamese community after two dozen Vietnamese families reported their children missing while supposedly en route to the UK.
As of Sunday evening, 24 families in the central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh reported to the authorities that they have been out of contact with their children for almost a week.
Son said that it was still too early to “say anything concrete” about the deaths of the alleged illegal migrants.
UK police managed to get leads on four cases and sent their documents to Vietnam to help verify the victims.
“It will take quite a while for British police because according to the law, the UK doesn’t accept face identification but DNA tests only,” Son said.
According to the plan, British police will be able to complete papers for between five and six cases per day, he added.
“Sending documents of the first four cases to Vietnam means that the UK has doubts on the nationality of the victims and is seeking bilateral co-operation for verification.”
Vietnamese officials met with Britain’s Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward on Monday to exchange information, Son added.
Following the meeting, also attended by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security, Ward officials stated they would cooperate to identify the victims.
“This identification process will take time to ensure the dignity of the victims, to guarantee forensic accuracy, and to secure information for the ongoing investigation,” Ward said in the statement.
The ambassador confirmed there has been no official identification of the victims, but authorities in Vietnam and the UK are working closely together on this process.
“The UK and Vietnam are friends and partners. We will work together to raise awareness of the dangers of human trafficking, to prosecute the criminals who facilitate it, and to protect vulnerable people, he said.”
Maurice Robinson, the lorry’s driver, is facing 39 counts of manslaughter over the deaths.
VIET NAM NEWS/ANN