Immigrants’ death — Dutch driver charged with manslaughter

LONDON, JUNE 23: The Dutch driver of the truck in which 58 Chinese illegal immigrants died in an airtight compartment was charged on today...

LONDON, JUNE 23: The Dutch driver of the truck in which 58 Chinese illegal immigrants died in an airtight compartment was charged on today with manslaughter, police said.

Perry Wacker, 32, from the Dutch city of Rotterdam, was also charged with smuggling two survivors of the disaster into Britain, and attempting to smuggle in the dead victims, Kent County police said.

Wacker was the first of five people being interrogated by British and Dutch police to be charged.

He has been held since the 58 victims, along with two survivors, were discovered late Sunday at the English channel Port of Dover.

The illegal immigrants, all in their 20s, had been stowed with a cargo of tomatoes in an airtight container during a five-hour crossing from the Belgian Port of Zeebrugge.

Kent County police are also holding two London-based Chinese suspected of involvement in a smuggling gang. In the Netherlands, police have arrested the 24-year-old owner of the trucking company, and a 55-year-old man.

British newspapers quoted Dutch media reports saying that the 55-year-old, who was not identified, was Wacker’s father.

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Earlier, China charged that Western countries encouraged racketeers by granting political asylum.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao also urged increased international cooperation, expressed sympathy over the deaths, and said China was cracking down on the "snake heads", the criminal gangs responsible for the human trafficking.