A man from Northern Ireland has appeared in court charged with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants.

Eamonn Harrison from Mayobridge, County Down, has been charged with manslaughter in relation to the victims, found inside a trailer in Grays, Essex, near the Dartford Crossing.

The 22 year-old is believed to have delivered the container to Zeebrugge, Belgium, and is also accused of conspiracy to commit human trafficking and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Police are seeking the extradition of the lorry driver, who is being held in the Republic of Ireland, to stand trial in the UK.

He appeared at the High Court in Dublin today and has been remanded in custody. The case was adjourned for a full hearing on Thursday November 21.

So far, two people have been charged over the tragedy in the UK.

Mo Robinson, 25, was charged last month with 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.

Police also want to speak to two suspects, who are on the run.

Ronan Hughes, 40, and his brother Christopher, 34, are being hunted by police on suspicion of manslaughter and human trafficking after the bodies were found near the Dartford Crossing.

The brothers, from Armagh in Northern Ireland, have links to the Irish Republic.

Police have since released the names of all 39 people who were found dead in the refrigerated lorry last month.

It was revealed last week teenagers were among those dead with 10 of those named by Essex Police under the age of 20.

All of the victims came from provinces in the north of Vietnam.

The youngest two victims were aged just 15, and the oldest a 44-year-old man from Dien Chau.

Formal identification was undertaken by an Identification Commission and overseen by Senior Coroner for Essex, Mrs Caroline Beasley-Murray.

Speaking on Friday she said: “May I take this opportunity to offer my deepest condolences to the victims’ families. My thoughts are with them at this unimaginably difficult time."

The senior officer in overall charge of the inquiry, assistant chief constable Tim Smith praised his teams efforts to "bring answers" to the families of those "whose tragic journey ended on our shores".

He said: “Our priority has been to identify the victims, to preserve the dignity of those who have died and to support the victims’ friends and families.

“It remained of paramount importance to us to ensure that an individual’s next of kin were informed, and that they were given some time to absorb this tragic news before we publicly confirmed their loved one’s identity.

The incident has lead to some MPs from the Foreign Affairs Committee calling on the Government to rethink its approach to legal immigration.

Tonbridge and Malling's Tom Tugendhat, who is chairman of the committee, said it was a "wake up call".

“The case of 39 people found dead in a lorry in Essex shocked us all.

"Hundreds of families across the world are losing loved ones who felt driven to take the fatal gamble to entrust their lives to smugglers," he said.

“The UK has been relatively isolated from the different migrant crises in recent years – but it’s wrong to assume that we are protected from their impact."

Eight more people have been arrested in Vietnam.

If you have any information about the case contact police on101 or online at: https://mipp.police.uk

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