A 23-YEAR-old man is due to appear in court in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a refrigerated container in Essex.

Caolan Gormley, 23, of Kedew Road in Caledon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, has been summonsed to appear before Southend Magistrates’ Court tomorrow, Essex Police said.

The force said he is due to answer a charge of conspiracy to assist illegal immigration.

Among the men, women and children were 10 teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys.

The bodies of the Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate after the container arrived on a ferry in the early hours of 23 October 2019.

Belgian officials said the trailer arrived at Zeebrugge at 2.49pm and left the port the same day en route to Purfleet.

The trailer later arrived at Purfleet at around 12.30am, and was picked up by the cab, known as the tractor, which arrived from Northern Ireland via Holyhead in North Wales on Sunday.

The lorry left the port at Purfleet shortly after 1.05am before police were called to the Waterglade Industrial Park on Eastern Avenue in Grays at 1.40am.