Lorry deaths: why spend thousands to reach the UK? - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

Last week 39 people suffocated to death in the back of a lorry in Essex. It was a reminder of a similar case that happened 19 years ago when 58 Chinese nationals were found dead in a lorry in Dover. In fact, the police originally thought that the group in that lorry in Grays last week were from China, until it emerged that they were probably from Vietnam. Police are there now taking DNA samples from families to identify the victims. We know that many Vietnamese people try to get to Britain and are here working to send money back home. We also now know that some pay up to £30,000 to traffickers to get to the UK. The BBC’s South East Asia Correspondent Jonathan Head has been in Vietnam this past week trying to figure out why.

Presented by Tina DaheleyProducer: Philly Beaumont
Mixed by Tom BurchellEditor: John Shields.

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