Fourth suspect arrested as UK truck deaths case probe deepens

Police leave the home of Joanna and Thomas Maher with an evidence box at Wiltshire close in Warrington, Cheshire, Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, after a man and a woman, both aged 38 and from Warrington, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people in connection with the 39 bodies found in a lorry in Essex on Wednesday. ( Jason Roberts/PA via AP) Police leave the home of Joanna and Thomas Maher with an evidence box at Wiltshire close in Warrington, Cheshire, Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, after a man and a woman, both aged 38 and from Warrington, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people in connection with the 39 bodies found in a lorry in Essex on Wednesday. ( Jason Roberts/PA via AP)

By DANICA KIRKA / Associated Press October 26, 2019 5 min read

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Truck deaths

A demonstrator holds a candle and a banner during a vigil for the 39 lorry victims, outside the Home Office in London, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. Authorities found 39 people dead in a truck in an industrial park in southeast England on Wednesday and arrested the driver on suspicion of murder in one of Britain's worst human-smuggling tragedies. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Demonstrators hold banners during a vigil for the 39 lorry victims, outside the Home Office in London, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. Authorities found 39 people dead in a truck in an industrial park in England on Wednesday and arrested the driver on suspicion of murder in one of Britain's worst human-smuggling tragedies. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Demonstrators hold a banner during a vigil for the 39 lorry victims, outside the Home Office in London, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. Authorities found 39 people dead in a truck in an industrial park in England on Wednesday and arrested the driver on suspicion of murder in one of Britain's worst human-smuggling tragedies. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Demonstrators hold banners and candles during a vigil for the 39 lorry victims, outside the Home Office in London, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. Authorities found 39 people dead in a truck in an industrial park in England on Wednesday and arrested the driver on suspicion of murder in one of Britain's worst human-smuggling tragedies. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Signs and candles on a wall were placed at a vigil for the 39 lorry victims, outside the Home Office in London, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. Authorities found 39 people dead in a truck in an industrial park in England on Wednesday and arrested the driver on suspicion of murder in one of Britain's worst human-smuggling tragedies. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Police at the industrial estate in Grays on Eastern Avenue, Essex, where 39 bodies were discovered in a lorry. PA Photo. Picture date: Friday October 25, 2019. Police confirmed that the eight women and 31 men found in the vehicle on an industrial estate in Grays were all Chinese. See PA story POLICE Container. Photo credit should read: Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire

Deputy Chief Constable Pippa Mills speaks to the media during a press conference at Grays Police Station in Essex Friday, Oct. 25, 2019, after a man and a woman, both aged 38 and from Warrington, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people in connection with the 39 bodies found in a lorry in Essex on Wednesday. ( Jason Roberts/PA via AP)

Floral tributes at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, after 39 bodies were found inside a lorry on the industrial estate. PA Photo. Picture date: Thursday October 24, 2019. The vehicle driver, named in reports as 25-year-old Mo Robinson from Portadown in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland, is being held by Essex police on suspicion of murder. See PA story POLICE Container. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

LONDON (AP) – A fourth person was arrested in connection with the deaths of 39 people found in the back of a container truck in southeastern England, British police said Friday as the investigation into one of the country’s worst human smuggling cases geared up.

Police said a 48-year-old man from Northern Ireland was arrested Friday at England’s Stansted Airport on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. The arrest came after police arrested a man and a woman, both 38 and from northwestern England, earlier Friday on the same charges. The 25-year-old driver of the truck remains in custody on suspicion of murder.

Essex Police said 31 men and eight women were found dead in the truck early Wednesday at an industrial park in Grays, a town 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of London. Although U.K. police said they believed the dead were Chinese citizens, they acknowledged Friday this was a “developing picture.”

China said it could not yet confirm the victims’ nationalities or identities.

The Vietnamese Embassy in London said Friday that it contacted police about a missing woman feared to be one of the dead. An embassy spokesman said it was contacted by a family in Vietnam who says their daughter had been missing since the truck was found.