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Dover Case Inquiry Turns to China
Four police officers from Kent, England and two British forensic experts will depart for China on Monday, hoping to complete the identification of the 58 illegal immigrants who died in Dover last month, British police told China Daily Wednesday night.
British police said they have made preliminary identifications about 50 of those who died, but formal confirmation awaits DNA checks.
The six British law enforcement officials will take DNA samples from the 58 who died to see if they match samples from relatives, said a Dover police spokesman.
Fifty-eight stowaways -- 54 men and four women in their 20s -- suffocated to death in a truck container, which arrived in Dover on June 18. Two others survived.
About two weeks ago, five police officers from East China's Fujian Province left for England to help British police identify the 58 who died.
"Our co-operation with China is excellent,'' said Dover police spokesman Mark Pugash.
British police praised the help offered by the Chinese community in England in recent weeks.
Relatives of the dead have helped police identify the dead.
On Sunday and Monday, a five-minute programme about a speech made by Dennis McGookin, who heads the investigation, was broadcast in Britain and Europe by Phoenix Satellite Television in Britain.
McGookin urged more people who knew the 58 dead to come forward to help police identify the victims, British police said.
McGookin said police will not look into the background of the people who step forward, said a producer of the programme.
The programme, recorded in Mandarin and Cantonese, was targeted at Chinese in Britain, Europe and China to help with the case, British police said.
The two survivors are still under police protection. Police declined to disclose the information they obtained from them.
"They are key persons for the investigation, yet the most important thing for them at present is security,'' police said.
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