Grieving families in Vietnam have been offered loans to cover the costs of repatriating their loved ones’ bodies in the wake of the Essex lorry incident. BBC reports.
Some relatives told the BBC they had been approached by the Vietnamese authorities with consent forms.
They gave them the option of taking a loan from the government, or covering the repatriation costs themselves.
The BBC has contacted the Vietnamese embassy in the UK for comment.
Authorities found the bodies of 39 Vietnamese nationals inside a container in the town of Grays in Essex last month. Two lorry drivers have since been charged with manslaughter, and several other men have been arrested in connection with the case.
The police identified all the victims 10 days ago, but the bodies have not yet been returned to Vietnam.
Coroners in England and Wales must grant permission before a body can be moved abroad or to other parts of the UK.
Consent forms seen by the BBC said: “I, on behalf of the family, pledge to pay back all relevant expenses that the authorities have made in advance in order to repatriate them from the UK.”
Victims’ families have been offered a discounted price of 66 million dong ($NZ4452) to repatriate a body, or 44 million dong to bring back the ashes.
Families had already taken out loans of up to $NZ81,000 to pay for smuggling their relatives to the UK.
Pham Ngoc Tuan, brother of one of the victims said: “We already had to borrow so much money, we had to mortgage what we had. I don’t even know if we can borrow any more.”
Tien Pham, cousin of two victims, said in a Facebook live stream: “We have been told the main issue now is money and even though we had to borrow a lot of money to send them away, we may borrow more to bring them home.”
In the wake of the deaths, the Vietnamese embassy in London pledged to “closely co-ordinate with the relevant authorities of Vietnam and UK to support the families of the Vietnamese victims… to bring their loved ones home”.
It also issued its “heartfelt condolences” to the families.