Police identify Dover dead

It has taken three months to identify the bodies

Kent police say almost all of the 58 Chinese illegal immigrants who died in the Dover lorry tragedy in June have been identified.

It followed a week-long visit to China by its officers led by Detective Superintendent Dennis McGookin.

The team worked with police in Beijing and in the southern Chinese province of Fujian where most of the 54 men and four women who perished in the tragedy originated.

The immigrants, found in the back of a sealed refrigerator truck which arrived from Zeebrugge in Belgium on June 19, are believed to have suffocated - only two survived.

Before the mission to China, Kent Police had only been able to formally identify four of the Chinese immigrants through investigations in Britain.

Det Supt McGookin told the BBC: "We can now confirm that we have names, dates of births and addresses for the vast majority of the 58 people who died.

The 58 bodies were found in the back of a lorry at Dover

"We have mainly relied on our colleagues in the Chinese police to deal with the families who believed they lost love ones in the tragedy.

"We got them to come forward initially to identify photographs and then to give us samples of blood so we could match DNA samples."

Kent police had relied "100 per cent" on the Chinese to make the breakthrough, he said, because of the cultural and linguistic barriers involved in dealing directly with the families.

He also confirmed that Kent police will now advise that the bodies should be released to the families. The bodies have been held in cold storage since the tragedy happened.

"When I return to England, I will be liaising with Her Majesty's Government and recommend that the bodies can now be disposed of, once we get the details from the families of how they want the bodies to be disposed," he said.

"We have given the responsibility to our colleagues in China to advise us accordingly."

Driver charged

The process of identifying the bodies has added to the tragedy for the relatives in China. They have repeatedly voiced their anger and frustration at both the British and Chinese authorities who have not allowed the bodies to be released until now.

The names of the deceased are expected to be released after the detectives return from China in the next few days.

An inquest into the deaths heard that an air vent on the side of the metal refrigeration container was closed during the ferry crossing from Zeebrugge to Dover.

This caused the victims to suffocate through a lack of oxygen and carbon dioxide build-up.

Lorry driver Perry Wacker, 32, of Rotterdam, Holland, has been charged with 58 counts of manslaughter and with people-smuggling offences.

Chef You Yi, 38, and 29-year-old female interpreter Ying Guo, of Rivenhall Gardens, South Woodford, Essex, are jointly charged with conspiracy to facilitate illegal entry into the UK.

All three are in custody awaiting trial.

Nine people are also in custody in Holland charged with people smuggling.