Relatives of UK crash victims expect compensation

The pain of those left behind

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

More than 3 years after her husband's death, the young wife's pain is gradually fading. However, the debts are still there. In order to send her husband to Europe, her family had to borrow a huge amount of money. Not long ago, an NGO specializing in anti-human trafficking supported her to go to school and then open a hair and nail salon right in front of her house. The total cost of support was about 50 million VND. But Ms. Thuong's salon is only crowded around Tet. Do Thanh commune is rich, but people here still do not easily spend a few hundred thousand to do a set of nails or other beauty services. She has to be very frugal to be able to provide food and education for her 2 children. As for the bank loans, she has to... endure!

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

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

Of the 39 bodies in the deadly container, Nghe An is the province with the most victims, with 21 people. Of these, there are 7 people in Dien Chau district, 7 in Yen Thanh, 3 in Vinh city, 2 in Nghi Loc, and 1 person each in Hung Nguyen and Cua Lo town.

Not far from Ms. Thuong's house, Ms. Tran Thi Hoa (29 years old), in Do Thanh commune, Yen Thanh, has been waiting for the compensation money that the court has just issued a verdict for a few days. Ms. Hoa is the wife of victim Le Van Ha - one of the 39 people who died in the container to England. Similar to Ms. Thuong, Ms. Hoa also received some money from a non-governmental organization to open a hair salon near her house. However, this job is only enough to make ends meet. As for the bank loan, she has to leave it alone. Helplessly watching the interest grow.

Ms. Hoa said that the couple got married in 2015. At the beginning of 2019, the couple borrowed money to build a house to live with her husband's parents. To have money to pay off the house loan, her husband decided to go abroad to work. To have money to pay the broker, the couple had to borrow another 500 million VND. Up to now, the debts for building the house and sending her husband abroad have not been repaid.

The day her husband left for Europe, Ms. Hoa was 9 months pregnant. That was the young couple’s second son. “My life is very difficult now. I just hope to receive some compensation to pay off some of the debt. The money the human trafficking ring earned was the money we gave them to bring our relatives to England. But the tragedy happened, at least they have to return that money,” Ms. Hoa said, sobbing.

Use money earned from human trafficking to compensate victims

According to British media, during a trial at the Old Bailey in London last weekend, Judge Mark Lucraft KC ordered the confiscation of £182,079 worth of illegal profits that Ronan Hughes earned in the human trafficking ring, including cash, bank accounts, trucks and real estate in Ireland.

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

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

To cross the border into the UK, the 39 victims had previously paid the traffickers at least 20,000 euros (more than 23,000 USD). They used an Irish trucking company that regularly imported Vietnamese biscuits to transport people across the English Channel, while Vietnamese gang members were in charge of receiving the migrants when they arrived in the UK. The bodies of the 39 Vietnamese were discovered on October 23, 2019, in a refrigerated truck at an industrial park in Essex, near London. An autopsy concluded that the victims died from lack of oxygen and hyperthermia in a closed space.

Just before the driver opened the container, Hughes texted him to “give them air quickly, but don’t let them out”. The container driver was also jailed for 13 years and four months for manslaughter. Police have identified at least six similar smuggling trips. In October 2019 alone, the smugglers made more than £1m.

In Belgium, a total of 23 people, including Vietnamese, were brought to trial. Vo Van Hong was identified as the ringleader and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. 18 people received sentences of less than 5 years and 4 were acquitted. In January 2021, 7 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 7 people to 1 year suspended imprisonment to 7 years and 6 months in prison for illegally sending workers abroad in connection with this case. Of these, 5 were from Nghe An. 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 "Organizing others to flee abroad". Tham was the person who received brokerage fees to send 1 of the 21 victims in Nghe An to the UK in the fateful container.