French trial opens over Vietnamese migrant lorry tragedy

Police stand near a truck where 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in Essex, England, October 2019. - Photo by Reuters

PARIS (AFP): A people-smuggling trial was set to open in Paris on Tuesday four years after 39 Vietnamese migrants suffocated to death in a refrigerated container on their way to Britain.

The bodies of the migrants -- two of whom were just 15 years old -- were discovered inside the sealed unit at a port near London in October 2019.