Essex lorry deaths a great humanitarian tragedy: Foreign Ministry spokesperson
After the UK police’s announcement on late November 1 that the victims in the Essex lorry case are thought to be Vietnamese, spokesperson of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry Le Thi Thu Hang said on early November 2 that this is a great humanitarian tragedy.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Afterthe UK police’s announcement on late November 1 that the victims in the Essexlorry case are thought to be Vietnamese, spokesperson of the Vietnamese ForeignMinistry Le Thi Thu Hang said on early November 2 that this is a greathumanitarian tragedy.
“We are deeply saddened and offer ourdeepest sympathy to the families of the victims over the huge loss," Hang said.
She informed that immediately after thecase came to light on October 23, the Foreign Ministry had instructed the Consular Departmentand the Vietnam Embassy in the UK to coordinate with relevant agencies andlocalities of Vietnam and the UK, provide information related to the case fromVietnam to assist with the identification of victims, open hotlines to receiveinformation and get citizen protection measures ready in the case there areVietnamese among the victims. The embassy had also transferred the results ofUK police’s identification process to Vietnamese agencies for cross-check.
At present, the Ministryof Public Security of Vietnam and UK police are coordinating in identifyingvictims suspected to be Vietnamese citizens in order to early announceinformation on victims’ identities.
“Vietnam strongly condemnshuman trafficking activities, which is a serious crime that needs to be strictlypunished,” the spokesperson said, calling on countries in the region and theworld to intensify cooperation to prevent and combat human trafficking, thuspreventing the recurrence of similar tragedies.
The spokesperson also expressed thanks andappreciation to the Government, agencies and localities of the UK for theirinvestigation, information provision and close coordination with Vietnameseagencies in the case.
“We hope the UK side would early completethe investigation and strictly punish those who are responsible for thetragedy,” she said./.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working hard to support the British side to speed up the process of identifying the nationalities and names of the victims of a tragedy in which 39 people were found dead in a container truck in Essex county of the UK on October 23.
Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung has thanked the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and relevant agencies of the UK for their active support and sharing of information related to lorry deaths in Essex with Vietnam.
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UK police said they believe all victims in the Essex lorry death case are Vietnamese, adding that they have identified some of the victims and have contacted the Vietnamese Government and some families in the UK and Vietnam.
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.
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Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang (Photo: VNA) 
