Hanoi (VNA) - A man wanted in connection with the death of 39 people from Vietnam found in the back of a refrigerated lorry in Essex, near London last October, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter in Ireland, according to Essex police.
Ronan Hughes, from County Armagh in Northern Ireland, was detained on April 20, following the execution of a European arrest warrant in Ireland.
The 40-year-old man has been charged with 39 offences of manslaughter, as well as immigration offences. He will appear at Dublin's High Court on April 21.
Previously, driver Maurice Robinson, from Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter at Central London Criminal Court on April 8.
On November 25, 2019, Robinson pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.
Another driver from North Ireland, Eamonn Harrison, 23, drove the container, which carried the victims, to the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, where it was put on a ferry to England and picked up at the other end by Maurice Robinson on early morning of October 23. He was accused of manslaughter./.
Vietnamese Embassy in UK releases statement on Essex lorry deaths
The Vietnamese Embassy in the UK released a statement on late November 1 expressing deep sadness at the initial findings by the Essex police that the victims who lost their lives in the refrigerated lorry on October 23 in Essex, UK, may be Vietnamese nationals.