A family in Vietnam fears that one of the 39 people found dead in a refrigerated trailer in Essex this week was their daughter. Releasing the devastating last text message from Pham Thi Tra My, her family said they were desperately seeking information and trying to verify whether she was one of those who had died. Essex police declined to comment when approached by the Guardian. In the message to her mother, feared to have been sent in her final moments, the year-old wrote that she was struggling to breathe and apologised.
The message, translated into English by a family acquaintance, was received at 4. This would have been Mum, I love you so much! I am sorry, Mum. The Vietnamese embassy in London confirmed it had contacted police in regard to a missing woman feared to be one of the 39 people found dead.
A spokesman for the embassy said it had been contacted by a family in Vietnam who claimed their daughter had been missing since the lorry was found. It was also reported two other Vietnamese families have relatives missing. A year-old man and a year-old woman. They had not heard from her since and the people smugglers had since returned money to the family. Relatives of the year-old, with whom she was travelling with, had also been given some money back.
They may also fear that by going public they will put their loved one at risk of arrest if they are in fact still alive. Mimi Vu, a leading expert on trafficking of Vietnamese young people to Europe and the UK, said the texts appeared to be authentic. Vu noted that occasionally people were given false Chinese passports, if they were trafficked through China, which could lead to confusion.
She then flew to France and on to the UK, he said. However, she was allegedly arrested on arrival in the UK before being sent back to France. Now we heard that she might have died. I am posting to ask for her whereabout and if you tell me your projection about her situation.
