BBC News
By Laurence Cawley and Gaetan Portal
BBC News
image captionPham Thi Ngoc Oanh, 28, from Nghe An, wrote a text message that was never sent Maybe going to die in the container, can t breathe any more dear, read a text message typed by Pham Thi Ngoc Oanh. It was never sent. What led to her and 38 fellow Vietnamese nationals dying in the dark and sweltering heat of an airtight container?
Driver Maurice Robinson pulled his articulated lorry over on a largely deserted Essex industrial park.
He got out of the cab, went to the rear of the trailer and opened the doors.
Advertisement
On the door inside the shipping container which became a death trap for the 39 Vietnamese migrants was shocking evidence of the last desperate moments of their final journey.
There, on the sealed exit separating them from the safety of the outside world, were the bloody handprints of victims who had banged frantically in vain for help as oxygen was slowly sucked from the air and they realised they were probably going to die.
They also used a pole to scrape holes in the side of the container as they desperately sought air, or escape.
Surely few details encapsulate the visceral horror of this tragedy – or the wickedness of people trafficking – more than this.