More than 20 Vietnamese are feared to be among the bodies found in a refrigerated trailer in an industrial park in Essex east of London on Wednesday.
'Devastated' Vietnamese pray for relatives missing in UK
A photo of her missing daughter Bui Thi Nhung, an offering of fruit and a bouquet of flowers -- a makeshift shrine laid by a desperate mother in a remote Vietnamese town many fear was home to some of the 39 people found dead in a truck in Britain.
A portrait of Bui Thi Nhung (C) is kept on a prayer altar at her house in Vietnam. Nhung's family fear she could be among the 39 people found dead in a truck near London
Recommended articles
Many are believed to have come from central Vietnam, a hotspot for migrants hoping for better lives abroad.
In Nhung's town the signs of money sent back from overseas earners are everywhere: motorbikes and cars, freshly renovated homes, and a recently-opened bubble tea shop along the main road.
There is also a church, filled on Saturday with locals praying for the 39 victims.
ADVERTISEMENT
British police initially said the 31 men and eight women found in the truck on were Chinese.
But then came the pleas from desperate Vietnamese families fearing their relatives were in the vehicle.
Some received chilling messages from their relatives in what was believed to be their dying hours. Others have heard nothing at all.
"We are very, very sad and confused," said Bui Van Diep who fears his 19-year-old sister Nhung was on the ill-fated truck.
She left their small Phu Xuan village in central Nghe An province about two months ago and has not been heard from since.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We really want to have a confirmation so that we can know about my sister," he said, stricken.
Thier mother sits before a portrait of smiling Nhung on the makeshift altar weeping, hoping for any news at all from the missing teenager.
Normally set up only for the dead, Nhung's family now prays at the altar in the hopes she is still alive.
In this remote village of Nghe An province, one of Vietnam's poorest, most people know someone who has gone abroad.
Many embark on treacherous journeys overland via Russia or China, risking their lives and paying smugglers tens of thousands of dollars to get to the UK, often carrying falsified documents.
ADVERTISEMENT
They are lured by promises of earning good money in Britain, where many illegal Vietnamese migrants work as manicurists or cannabis farmers.
'So much pain'
Promises of quick riches was what drove 27-year-old Nguyen Dinh Tu to Europe, where he hoped to earn enough to renovate the family home.
He left Vietnam for Germany in the last year, and paid smugglers $6,400 in the hopes of making it to Britain.
But his family fears he might have not reached the country alive.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We're devastated by this news. We're in so much pain," his brother Nguyen Van Tinh told AFP.
"We just wish authorities would help us bring the body of our loved one back," he said.
Tu had planned to meet his father-in-law in Britain and before getting on the truck told him to prepare the smuggling fee.
When Tu didn't arrive, his father-in-law called his family back home to say he was likely dead.
Like Nhung's family, the family now sits before an altar of the young man, praying for a miracle.
ADVERTISEMENT
In neighbouring Ha Tinh province, Pham Thi Tra My's relatives have been frozen with grief since Wednesday when they got a chilling message from her.
They think she sent it in the last hours of her life from inside the cold trailer where she is feared to have suffocated to death.
"I'm sorry Mom. My path to abroad doesn't succeed. Mom, I love you so much! I'm dying because I can't breathe," the 26-year-old wrote.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
ADVERTISEMENT
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng
Recommended articles
Forgive me my papa - Self-acclaimed Hausa traditional ruler kneels to beg Oba of Benin
Fubara grows Rivers IGR by over 100%, less than 1 year after Wike's tenure
Plateau University suspends exams over killing of student
Nigeria laughing stock of the rest of the world due to insecurity - TY Danjuma
APC group claims Tinubu’s initiatives stimulating economic recovery
Plateau Gov urges calm after attack that led to death of 200-level PLASU student
NAFDAC reopens popular Ibadan supermarket shut for selling unregistered product
Gov Adeleke lavished with praise for providing water, sanitation facilities
CSO inaugurates campaign to combat electoral irregularities, promote reforms
Pulse Sports
Lionel Messi's son breaks the internet after scoring five goals for Inter Miami
Naija Stars Abroad: Onyedika, Boniface, and Osimhen shine across Europe
Victor Osimhen and Tobi Amusan make list of Forbes’ 30 under 30 Class of 2024
ADVERTISEMENT
![The woman was recorded, among others, while bathing [BI]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'300'%20height%3D'172'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "The woman was recorded, among others, while bathing [BI]")