A 49-year-old Romanian national, Marius Mihai Draghici, has been formally charged over the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants whose bodies were found on October 23, 2019 in a truck in Essex, England, United Kingdom.
Draghici was arrested in Romania in August and subsequently extradited to the UK on a Euro warrant. He is now imprisoned in Essex and charged with 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to aid and abet illegal immigration. The case is being heard at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court.
Temperatures inside the truck bed reached 38.5 degrees Celsius despite the fact that the migrants had paid more than £10,000 (about €11,650) each to travel to England.
The truck came from Zeebrugge in Belgium and arrived by sea at the port of Purfleet in Essex.
