Essex lorry deaths: how dangerous is the journey to the UK?

Where did the 39 people who were found dead in a lorry container come from?

We don’t know yet. Police were clear on Wednesday that they were some way from identifying them or confirming their point of origin. The only detail they provided of the victims initially was that 38 were adults and one was a teenager.

Throughout the day, information emerged that might provide clues as to where the victims were picked up. Initially police thought that the container had come to the UK via Holyhead on Saturday and said: “We believe the lorry is from Bulgaria.” But later the force said it now believed that the trailer had travelled from Zeebrugge to Purfleet, while the cab had come from Northern Ireland separately.

The Bulgarian government said that the lorry was registered in the coastal city of Varna under the name of a female Irish citizen. While it was not clear that either the cabin or the trailer had begun their journey there, the hypothesis that the victims travelled along the Balkan migrant route remained a possibility.

Where does Bulgaria sit on the Balkan migrant route?

Every day, hundreds of asylum seekers from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran attempt the cross the Balkan route to reach western Europe. The majority of them arrive in Bulgaria, having travelled through Turkey. From there, they try to cross Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia, hoping to reach Slovenia, a Schengen country, before heading on to Italy, Austria or Germany.

What are conditions like in the Balkans?

Migrants often face brutal beatings within Balkan countries and as they cross borders. Setting off in groups, they attempt to cross under cover of night, trying to avoid police, armed with truncheons, pistols and night-vision goggles. If captured, migrants are often illegally pushed back, only to try again the next day.

Informal camps are dotted along the Balkan borders, such as the one in Bihać in Bosnia, where migrants sleep in tents or under plastic and cardboard for a few nights. Migrants who have experienced the camps run by the Bulgarian government say asylum seekers are repeatedly abused and assaulted by the police.

Since eastern European countries, such as Hungary, have closed their borders, crossings have become increasingly hazardous for migrants. Often, the only way to continue the journey is on lorries and trucks managed by smugglers.

What are the recent developments?

Last month, the Bulgarian prime minister, Boyko Borissov, drew attention to a significant rise in illegal crossings. Borissov said that on 20 September, 440 migrants had been detained after crossing the Turkish border by 11am alone. Greece is dealing with a similar situation.

Meanwhile, local authorities in Bosnia have temporarily cut the water supply in Vucjak camp, near the city of Bihać, to force the central government to relocate migrants and refugees living there. Police have also removed dozens of asylum seekers from trains to prevent them from reaching camps that are overcapacity in the north-west of the country. Thousands of migrants are stuck near the border with Croatia, an EU member state. The Bihać Red Cross has warned of a building humanitarian crisis.

How many people have died in transit?

Since 2014 the International Organization for Migration has recorded the number of people who have died in transit. In the past six years, figures show more than 33,700 deaths. This figure is considered indicative of the human cost of unsafe migration but is likely to underreport the actual number of people who have died or gone missing during migration.

More than 1.9 million migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe since 2014. More than 1,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year, according to the UN.

A total of 92 migrant deaths were recorded on land in Europe in 2018, and before Wednesday’s discovery of 39 bodies inside a Bulgarian-registered lorry in Essex, 58 deaths had been recorded for 2019, 22 of which were from “vehicle-related” incidents.

Five people have drowned in the Channel this year, and a man who stowed away on a plane fell to his death over London on 30 June.

A further 24 people have died on the western Balkans route so far this year: eight deaths in Bosnia and Herzegovina, six in Serbia, five in Croatia, three in North Macedonia and two in Slovenia. There were 41 deaths in 2018.