Police confirm bodies found in lorry trailer were all Chinese nationals

WATCH: ITV Anglia's Hannah Pettifer and Malcolm Robertson report on the latest for our 6pm programme.

Police have established that all 39 people discovered dead in the trailer of a lorry in Essex were Chinese nationals.

Investigations are continuing to find out the identities of the bodies, but officers have confirmed that 31 of them were men and eight were women.

They were found by ambulance crews at an industrial park in Grays early on the morning of Wednesday, 23 October.

The trailer had arrived at the port of Purfleet around an hour before the discovery, having travelled from Zeebrugge.

It was collected by a tractor unit which had arrived in Britain on Sunday, 20 October, having travelled from Dublin.

The lorry was moved from Grays to Tilbury yesterday evening, in order for the bodies to be removed from the trailer.

The driver of the lorry has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody.

Three properties in County Armagh have been searched as part of the investigation.

Officers have now extended the time they're allowed to hold him an additional 24 hours.

A statement released by the force on Thursday suggested it could be some time before full details about the deceased would be publicly available.

It said: "Each of the 39 people must undergo a full coroner’s process to establish a cause of death, before we move on to attempting to identify each individual within the trailer.

"This will be a substantial operation and, at this stage, we cannot estimate how long these procedures will take."

A book of condolences has been set up at Grays civic centre, and the force have thanked the Red Cross and Thurrock Council for their support.