Dover tragedy: Relatives barred

The victims arrived in a sealed refrigerated lorry

By Beijing correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes

Relatives of the 58 Chinese who suffocated in the back of a truck while illegally trying to enter the UK say Beijing is refusing to allow them to travel to the UK to identify the bodies.

The immigrants suffocated in the lorry at Dover

They also say they have been given no information about what is being done with the bodies or when they may be returned to China.

Lin Xian Bing says the only information authorities have given him about his dead son is a photograph of his body.

His son was one of 58 illegal immigrants found in the back of a container lorry in the British port of Dover in June.

Speaking from his home in Fujian, Mr Lin said the families of those who died had been asking the Chinese Government to allow them to go to the UK to identify and retrieve the bodies in person. But so far they have been refused.

"They continuously say we can't go, they won't let us go," says Mr Lin.

"Even if eventually they do let us go they say we will have to pay for ourselves. But how are we going to find the money?"

Cremation

Mr Lin borrowed the equivalent of $25,000 to pay for his 25-year-old son's ill-fated trip to Britain. Now his son is dead and he has been left penniless.

A Dutch warehouse where the immigrants may have boarded the lorry

For Chinese people the return of the body of a dead relative is extremely important so that the correct ceremonies can be performed prior to cremation.

Mr Lin says the families fear the bodies may now be cremated before they are returned to China.

The investigation into the deaths in Dover has been hampered by politics from the outset.

Chinese police sent to Britain have reportedly been denied access to the two survivors of the tragedy because of fears the Chinese Government might take action against their relatives.

Meanwhile, a group of British police is still waiting for approval to visit China to meet the families and take blood samples for DNA matching.