Relatives of those who died in the UK are awaiting compensation.

The pain of those left behind

In the final days of the year, Ms. Hoang Thi Thuong (30 years old), from Do Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, is quite busy in her beauty salon. However, she still closely follows the news on the media about the trial of the "kingpin" of the human trafficking ring that caused the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people in October 2019. Because among the victims was her young husband, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tu.

More than three years after her husband's death, the young wife's grief is gradually subsiding. However, the debts remain. Her family had borrowed a large sum of money to send her husband to Europe. Not long ago, a non-governmental organization specializing in combating human trafficking supported her education and helped her open a hair and nail salon right in front of her house. The total support amounted to about 50 million VND. But Ms. Thuong's salon is only busy during the period leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year). Although Do Thanh commune is wealthy, the people there still don't easily spend a few hundred thousand dong on manicures or other beauty services. She has to be very frugal to provide for her two children's food and education. As for the bank loans... she has no choice but to accept them!

Ms. Thuong's beauty salon. Photo: Tien Hung

Ms. Thuong said that she has not received any compensation yet. “I read in the newspaper that a court in Europe ruled that the ringleader must compensate the victims' families. But we don't know how to contact them to receive this compensation. I hope the authorities will help and connect us so we can receive the compensation. Not long ago, the police came and asked for my bank account number. I'm not sure why they asked for it,” Ms. Thuong said, expressing her hope to receive the compensation soon to cover her children's school fees.

Of the 39 bodies found in that deadly container, Nghe An province had the highest number of victims, with 21. Of these, Dien Chau district had 7, Yen Thanh district 7, Vinh City 3, Nghi Loc district 2, and Hung Nguyen district and Cua Lo town each had 1.

Not far from Ms. Thuong's house, for the past few days, Ms. Tran Thi Hoa (29 years old), from Do Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, has also been anxiously awaiting the compensation payments that the court has just ruled on. Ms. Hoa is the wife of Le Van Ha, one of the 39 people who died in the container en route to England. Similar to Ms. Thuong, Ms. Hoa also received some financial assistance from a non-governmental organization to open a hair salon near her home. However, this work only provides enough to make ends meet. As for the bank debt, she has to leave it to chance, helplessly watching the interest compound.

Ms. Hoa recounted that she and her husband got married in 2015. It wasn't until early 2019 that they borrowed money to build a house to live with her husband's parents. To pay off the debt, her husband decided to go abroad for work. To cover the costs of the agency, they had to borrow another 500 million VND. To this day, they haven't been able to repay any of the debts for the house and her husband's overseas employment.

When her husband left for Europe, Ms. Hoa was nine months pregnant. It was their second son. “My life is very difficult right now. I just hope to receive some compensation to pay off some of the debt. The money the human trafficking ring earned was money we gave them to bring our relatives to England. But tragedy struck, and at least they should return that money,” Ms. Hoa sobbed.

Use the money earned from human trafficking to compensate the victims.

According to British media, in a hearing at the Old Bailey High Court in London last weekend, Judge Mark Lucraft KC ordered the confiscation of illicit gains worth £182,079 that Ronan Hughes obtained from the human trafficking ring, including cash, bank accounts, trucks, and property in Ireland.

Of this amount, £180,000 will be used to compensate the families of the victims in the tragedy of 39 Vietnamese people who died in a truck in Essex, England, in 2019. If Hughes does not accept this compensation ruling, he will face an additional two years in prison. Ronan Hughes, 43, from Armagh, Northern Ireland, had previously been sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter and was identified as the "kingpin" of a human trafficking ring.

Ms. Thuong's house in Do Thanh commune. Photo: Tien Hung

To cross the border into England, the 39 victims had previously paid the traffickers at least 20,000 Euros (over 23,000 USD). They used an Irish road transport company that regularly imported Vietnamese biscuits to smuggle people across the English Channel, while members of the Vietnamese gang were responsible for receiving the migrants upon their arrival in England. The bodies of the 39 Vietnamese were discovered on October 23, 2019, in a refrigerated truck in an industrial area in Essex, near London. Autopsies concluded that the cause of death was oxygen deprivation and hyperthermia in a confined space.

Just before the driver opened the container, Hughes texted him, "Quickly give them air, but don't let them out." The container truck driver was also sentenced to 13 years and 4 months in prison for manslaughter. Police have identified at least six similar human trafficking operations. In October 2019 alone, these traffickers earned over £1 million.

In Belgium, a total of 23 people, including Vietnamese nationals, were brought to trial. Vo Van Hong was identified as the ringleader and sentenced to 15 years in prison. 18 others received sentences of less than 5 years, and 4 were acquitted. In January 2021, seven other suspects were tried in the UK and received prison sentences ranging from 3 to 27 years for manslaughter.

Previously, in September 2020, the People's Court of Ha Tinh province sentenced seven people to prison terms ranging from one year suspended to seven years and six months for illegally sending laborers abroad in connection with this case. Among them, five were from Nghe An province. Meanwhile, in Nghe An, on June 25, 2020, the People's Court of Nghe An province sentenced Nguyen Thi Tham (25 years old), residing in Nghi Tan ward, Cua Lo town, to 15 months in prison for the crime of "Organizing the illegal emigration of others." Tham was the person who received brokerage fees to facilitate the illegal emigration of one of the 21 victims from Nghe An to England in the ill-fated container.

Tien Hung