HCMC – Multiple families in the north-central province of Ha Tinh have reported their relatives missing after 39 people were found dead in the back of a truck in the UK’s Essex.

Bui Huy Cuong, vice chairman of Can Loc District in Ha Tinh Province, was cited by news site Vietnamplus as saying that some families in Thien Loc, Thanh Loc and Khanh Loc communes and Nghen Town of the district had reported the missing of their children for several days after their children said they were on their way to the UK.

Pham Van Thin, a resident of Nghen Town, Can Loc District, Ha Tinh Province, said his daughter, Pham Thi Tra My, traveled to China and France to find way to the UK for work. In what is believed to be My's last text messages sent to her family on October 23, she wrote that she was struggling to breathe.

After hearing the news about the 39 dead people in a truck in the UK, Thin was afraid that his daughter might be among the truck victims.

Vo Nhan Que in Thien Loc Commune said his son, Vo Nhan Nhu, had left Vietnam in May. On September 22, Nhu told his family that he would travel to the UK but his family could not contact him since then.

Cuong said although the nationality of the 39 victims had not yet been confirmed, families in Ha Tinh, whose relatives reported that they would go to the UK, were extremely anxious.

The Can Loc government has asked communes to work with these families to support the competent agencies in the identification of victims.

The Government news website reported that Vietnamese ambassador in the UK Tran Ngoc An had talked on the phone with the Secretary of State for the Home Department of the UK and a representative of the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK had worked with the British police over the case.

On October 26, the Vietnamese Ambassador in the UK and some staff of the embassy went to the site where the bodies of the 39 victims were found. The Vietnamese Embassy will continue cooperating closely with the UK’s competent agencies to help identify the nationality of the victims.

The embassy has announced its hotline +44 7713 181501 and the citizen protection hotline +84981 8484 84 to help Vietnamese nationals seeking assistance.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had earlier ordered the Ministry of Public Security to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the governments of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces to determine whether any Vietnamese nationals were among the 39 victims.