The UK police on Thursday said that the 39 people found dead in a truck at an industrial park in southeast England were believed to be Chinese nationals.
According to an official statement from Essex Police, eight of the dead are women and 31 are men, reported The New York Times.
Adding that the cause of death is yet to be ascertained, the police said: "Each body must undergo a full coroner's process before we move on to attempting to identify each individual within the trailer. This will be a substantial operation and, at this stage, we cannot estimate how long these procedures will take."
As per CNN, Northern Irish truck driver Morris Robinson was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murder after the truck and a container with the victims were found at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, near river Thames about 32 kilometers from central London.
The officials believe that the truck containing the victims came from Bulgaria and entered Britain through Holyhead in Wales over the weekend.