UK arrests two more over truck deaths

British police have made two more arrests in the case of the 39 Vietnamese migrants found dead in a refrigerated truck trailer near London last year.

Post-mortem examinations listed the provisional causes of death as a combination of hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and hyperthermia (overheating), Essex Police said.

A spokesperson said seven arrests have now been made in connection with the deaths across Europe, while a team of 12 British officers investigating the case is in Vietnam to meet the families of the victims.

Essex Police on Tuesday charged a 43-year-old man with 39 counts of manslaughter and held another suspect. Gheorghe Nica, from Basildon east of London, was detained by German authorities at Frankfurt airport last week before being brought back to the United Kingdom on a European arrest warrant and charged.

A 22-year-old man was arrested in Northern Ireland on Sunday on suspicion of manslaughter and facilitating unlawful immigration. He remains in custody, officers said.

The victims, who included two 15-year-old boys, were found on an industrial estate in Grays in Essex, 32 kilometers east of London in October.

One of the men accused of involvement in their deaths is due to appear at an extradition hearing in Dublin's High Court later.

Eamonn Harrison, 23, of Mayobridge in County Down, is facing 39 charges of manslaughter as well as conspiracy to traffic people and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

The lorry driver, Maurice Robinson, of Craigavon in County Armagh, admitted conspiring to assist illegal immigration and acquiring criminal property at the Old Bailey court in November.

He has not yet entered pleas to 39 manslaughter counts or conspiracy to commit human trafficking and transferring criminal property.

His co-accused, Christopher Kennedy, 23, denied conspiracy to commit human trafficking offenses, assisting unlawful immigration and arranging to facilitate the travel of other people with a view to exploitation.

Nica appeared in court on Saturday accused of 39 counts of manslaughter and one count of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and is due to reappear at London's Old Bailey on March 16.

Essex Police said they are continuing to progress hundreds of lines of enquiry and are working with the National Crime Agency and other law enforcement agencies from across the globe to further their lengthy and complex investigation.