By Press Association
Additional reporting by Digital Desk
A young Vietnamese woman is feared to be among 39 migrants found dead in a lorry in Essex.
The family of Pham Tra My, 26, told the BBC they had paid €35,000 for her to be smuggled to Britain but have not been able to contact her since she sent a text on Tuesday night saying she was suffocating.
The Vietnamese Embassy in London confirmed it has contacted police in regard to a missing woman feared to be one of the 39 people found dead in a lorry in Essex.
A spokesman for the embassy said they had been contacted by a family in Vietnam which claimed their daughter had been missing "since the lorry was found".
The spokesman said: "We have contacted Essex Police and we are waiting for an answer."
A spokesman from the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK confirmed Essex Police confirmed it has contacted police in regard to Pham Tra My.
The BBC said the families of two other Vietnamese people – a 26-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman – had contacted the broadcaster, fearing their relatives might have been in the container.
The Guardian have reported that the woman's mother received a text message from Phạm Thị Trà My at around 10.28pm on Tuesday Irish time - around four hours before the ambulance was called to the container and the bodies of the 39 people were discovered.
The message, translated into English by a family friends according to the Guardian, said:
I’m sorry Mum. My journey abroad hasn’t succeeded. Mum, I love you so much! I’m dying because I can’t breathe ... I’m from Nghèn, Can Lộc, Hà Tĩnh, Vietnam ... I am sorry, Mum.
One message has been blacked out from the screenshot of the texts as it contains the family's address.
Private ambulances are transporting more of the 39 bodies found in a refrigerated lorry trailer from the Port of Tilbury to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.
Three ambulances left the port under police escort just after 1.45pm today.
The recovery operation began on Thursday night when the first 11 bodies were transported to the hospital.
Post-mortem examinations will now be carried out.
