London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

With tears and white roses, Vietnam receives first bodies found in British truck

With tears and white roses, Vietnam receives first bodies found in British truck

With tears in their eyes and white roses in their hands, friends and relatives of the 39 Vietnamese people who were found dead in the back of a British truck last month sobbed as the first bodies to be repatriated arrived in rural Vietnam on Wednesday.

The bodies of 16 victims arrived in the Southeast Asian country in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Vietnam’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“After waiting for so many days, my son has finally arrived,” Nguyen Dinh Gia, father of victim Nguyen Dinh Luong, told Reuters.

Under grey and rainy skies, a parade of ambulances snaked through crowds of mourners in the rural town of Dien Chau, Nghe An province, from which some of the victims began the doomed journey.

Five of the 16 bodies would be returned to Nghe An on Wednesday, an official there said.

“We are deeply saddened, but we have to hold back the emotion to organise the funeral for my son,” Gia said by phone from neighbouring Ha Tinh province, where another 10 victims were from.

Cloth-wrapped coffins arrived at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport early on Wednesday and were loaded into the back of a fleet of waiting ambulances, state media showed.

The bodies would be taken to the homes of their next of kin in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces, the foreign ministry said.

Vietnamese and British authorities continued to coordinate to repatriate the remaining bodies, it added without giving further details.

Police in Vietnam have arrested 10 people in connection with the deaths. On Monday, the British driver of the truck admitted plotting to assist unlawful immigration and acquiring criminal property.

“This is a very difficult time,” Britain’s ambassador to Vietnam, Gareth Ward, said in a video statement released on Wednesday.

“But I promise the families and the Vietnamese people as a whole that we will continue to boost the cooperation between the UK and Vietnam to prevent human trafficking and protect vulnerable people here.”


FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND

The grisly discovery last month on an industrial estate near London, a magnet for Vietnamese migrants, has shone a spotlight on the people-smuggling trade bringing the poor of Asia, Africa and the Middle East on perilous journeys to the West.

In Vietnam, poor job prospects, environmental disasters and the promise of financial rewards are all factors pushing people to leave.

Even though the cost of getting to Europe can run into thousands of dollars for migrants ready to pay for a so-called “VIP” service, they believe they can make enough money to justify the risk.

Families of the victims, all aged between 15 and 44, have been plagued by confusion and anguish over how to get the bodies home.

The families would have to pay for the repatriation of the bodies, costing up to 2,208 pounds each, according to a foreign ministry statement seen by Reuters.

The Nov. 14 statement said the Vietnamese government would advance the payment, which families could repay later.

Among the victims was 18-year-old Hoang Van Tiep, the youngest of three siblings who dropped out of school at 15 and left illegally for France a year later, where he worked in a Vietnamese-owned restaurant.

He had begged his parents to help fund his “VIP” move to Britain. They had tried to persuade him not to go, but eventually relented, his mother told Reuters.

At his family home in Dien Chau on Wednesday, devastated relatives surrounded his coffin with flowers, incense, and a large photograph of Tiep wearing a calm and confident expression upon his face.

His friends described him as young, cheerful, and “looking for love”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×