英国海关：疑58名死者为中国人
一名英国海关官员19日早上在多佛尔港对一辆在荷兰注册的冷冻运货
大卡车进行例行检查时，竟发现里面有58具尸体。其中54名为男性，4名女
性。另有两名幸存者，他们已被送往当地医院接受治疗。
据悉，这辆卡车是从比利时的泽布吕赫乘轮渡过英吉利海峡，昨天午
夜前抵达多佛尔。多佛尔港是法国和比利时车辆进出英国的主要轮渡码头
。以前多佛尔也发现过偷渡客的尸体，但是从来没有这么多人一次死于非
命。
英国官方早些时候向CNN透露说，这些人可能是企图谋求避难的人。警方发
言人表示，“死者看上去像东方人，现在还不能确认。”但有报导说，他
们是来自中国的偷渡者。
正在葡萄牙同欧盟其他领导人举行会晤的英国首相布莱尔获悉此事说
，这件事凸显了欧洲日趋严重地非法移民问题。他说，“应对此事展开刑
事调查。”
英国内政大臣斯特劳说，这是一件非常恐怖的惨剧。他对“邪恶的人贩子
”所造成的生命死亡感到震惊，也对死者的亲属表示同情。他表示，“政
府决心继续打击这种人贩子的邪恶活动，这些人贩子视人命如草芥。”
英国反对党保守党的影子内政大臣也说，真正的问题是抓获这些偷渡集团
的头目，“他们很多人都在境外活动，我们需要更多的国际合作。”
多佛尔所在的肯特郡警方说，他们已经展开了重大刑事调查，但是确
定这些人是如何死亡的为时尚早。调查的目的之一是追踪这些偷渡者的来
路。警方目前已经逮捕了一名嫌疑人，但拒绝透露是何人。BBC报导说，荷
兰籍的卡车司机已经被拘捕。
非法移民通过英国港口进入英国的问题最近再次成为英国政界辩论的
首要问题之一。英国1999年接到7万多份避难申请，今年可能会超过德国，
成为避难者首选的欧洲目的地。大部分的避难申请是中国人递交的。
World Headlines
Monday June 19 11:05 AM ET
Fifty-Eight Bodies Found in Truck at British Port
By Kate Kelland
DOVER, England (Reuters) - British customs found the corpses of 58
Far Eastern illegal immigrants crammed in a truck at a port on Monday,
victims of a human smuggling scam that went horribly wrong.
It was not clear exactly how the victims of Britain's biggest illegal
immigrant tragedy had died, though suffocation or hypothermia seemed
most likely.
``The lorry was stopped at about midnight whereupon they found 58 dead -- 54 men and
four women. There are two male survivors. No children,'' a Home Office (interior ministry)
spokesman said.
``They all seem to be Oriental (east Asian) and if you were to look through the numbers of
people claiming asylum in this country, the most common Oriental group are Chinese. But
this has to be confirmed,'' he told Reuters.
He said the bodies were found in the rear of a Dutch-registered vehicle at Britain's main
port Dover about midnight. The driver was arrested and the two survivors were taken to
hospital, where they are expected to survive.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking from a European
summit in Portugal, said the tragedy underlined the dangers
of the organized traffic in asylum seekers.
``What's important is to try and stamp out what is an evil
trade in bringing people into this country,'' he said.
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook urged European Union police to cooperate further to end
the traffic in asylum seekers.
``We plainly must do more,'' he told Reuters Television News at the European Union
summit conference in Portugal.
Shipped As Tomatoes
The lorry left the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on Sunday evening and was searched by
customs officials a few hours later at Dover. Its journey has so far been traced back to
Rotterdam and police across Europe are coordinating their investigation into events leading
to the largest death toll of a group of immigrants being smuggled into Britain.
London's Evening Standard newspaper said the victims were
shipped registered as a consignment of tomatoes.
``This particular incident is now subject to a major police
investigation. The government is determined to continue to crack
down on the evil trade in such trafficking, whose perpetrators
have no regard for human life,'' Home Secretary (interior minister) Jack Straw said in a
statement.
Individual asylum seekers have been known to die on their journey to Britain, often after
jumping from a moving train to avoid detection, but police said they were stunned by the
scale of their overnight discovery.
``The numbers speak for themselves. The scale of the find is something that officials here
have not found previously and it has had a huge and very distressing impact on anyone who
has been involved in it,'' Mark Pugash of Kent police told Sky television.
The two survivors have not yet been questioned. ``Their condition is not thought to be
life-threatening. They are currently in hospital and they will obviously be a very important
part of this criminal investigation,'' Pugash said.
The government spokesman said it was unclear if the lorry's refrigeration system had been
turned on, which might have frozen the passengers, or switched off, possibly suffocating
them on what was Britain's hottest day of the year so far.
Dover, a major landing point for ferries from France and Belgium, has been a popular entry
point for asylum-seekers, many of them from eastern Europe.
The British government introduced fines earlier this year for people who try to smuggle
illegal immigrants into the country in a bid to stamp out the lucrative practice.
Immigration has since become a contentious political topic and human rights groups have
accused the Labor government of cracking down on refugees in a bid to win votes.
``This is a terrible tragedy,'' said Nick Hardwick of the Refugee Council. ``They are
ordinary people in extraordinary situations and the fact that they are willing to take these
risks suggest there must be something powerful motivating them to leave their own country.''
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