The stowaways were found dead in a Dutch-registered truck at the British port of Dover on June 17 last year when the police there were conducting a routine customs inspection. They found 58 people suffocated to death and two others in coma in the truck.

A Chinese team of experts later found that all of the people were Chinese citizens, mostly from areas around Fuzhou, capital of Fujian.

After friendly consultations, the Chinese and British departments concerned made joint efforts for transporting the corpses to Fuzhou.

At the airport, a city government official in charge of the issue said the provincial and city authorities will assist relatives of the victims to handle funeral affairs in accordance with Chinese laws, and the opinions of the relatives will be taken into consideration.

He said the Dover tragedy fully demonstrates that international smuggling syndicates would seek huge profits in disregard of people’s lives.

The international community should work together to crack down on organized illegal emigration so as to prevent similar incidents from happening again in the future, he said.

(People’s Daily 01/19/2001)