Different news organizations took more than a week time to find out the true story beyond the UK truck death. Here is a summarized story with some social media posts for explaining the identification process of the deaths:
39 dead bodies were found in a truck in Essex, the UK on October 23, 2019. CNN posted a tweet on Twitter to report the deaths were all Chinese, according to the UK police, the next day. SCMP also posted a tweet and wrote that the nationality of the deaths was already confirmed by China’s foreign ministry. Two different sources of attributions were found for this news event.
UK police say all 39 people found dead in the back of a truck in Essex were Chinese. They’re scrambling to establish a chain of events. https://t.co/XobVgEiQys pic.twitter.com/AK72rc7hYY
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) October 24, 2019
China’s foreign ministry confirms 39 UK truck death victims were Chinesehttps://t.co/cy3abKvpet
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) October 24, 2019
Regarding the nationality of the deaths, Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese Ambassador in the UK, said that the embassy team had been working with the UK police to identify the death’s identity. His tweet on October 24 mentioned the nationality of the 39 deaths was not yet confirmed by the UK police.
The Chinese Embassy has sent a team led by the minister-counsellor in charge of consular affairs to Essex, England. They have met with the local police, who said that they are verifying the identity of the 39 deceased, whose nationality still cannot be confirmed.
— Liu Xiaoming (@AmbLiuXiaoMing) October 24, 2019
The identity information written on CNN tweet and Liu’s tweet was both attributed to the UK police, however, there were two ways of speaking. The SCMP even said the identity information was confirmed by China’s foreign ministry but the later tweet by Liu clearly showed that they didn’t have any information on hand yet. On the same day, Associated Press posted a tweet and mentioned the deaths were just “believed to be from China”. They didn’t say the deaths were confirmed to be Chinese nationals in the tweet. The identity of the death was still a myth.
A Chinese envoy is urging British police to find out the truth as soon as possible as they investigate the deaths of 39 people in a container truck who are believed to be from China. https://t.co/PT64TTNRIx
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 25, 2019
On October 25, Reuters posted on a video tweet and wrote that 10 of the deaths might be from Vietnam under police’s speculation. The arrested of the suspects revealed the human trafficking issue in the UK.
As British Police arrest three more suspects in connection with the deaths of 39 people found in a truck near London, speculation grows that at least 10 of the victims could have been from Vietnam https://t.co/ak3E99sQXJ pic.twitter.com/8VlWy4wGSK
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 26, 2019
Reuters also released a video interview with a parent of one of the deaths on Twitter on October 28. This was the turning point of the whole identity investigation of the deaths.
Global Times posted a tweet on October 29 to criticize CNN for spreading fake news. However, they didn’t create any post to criticize SCMP.
. @CNN owes 39 victims in #Essex truck tragedy, as well as Chinese people, an apology. https://t.co/XPWdPhZmW0 pic.twitter.com/OWyl0NZHil
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) October 30, 2019
On November 2, CNN again released post regarding the truck tragedy, but they said the deaths were confirmed to be Vietnamese this time, attributing to the Essex police again.
Reuters posted on Twitter on November 7, 5 days later than CNN, to say the Vietnamese identity of death was confirmed by Vietnam police. Even the source of attribution was different, the identity of the deaths were all verified at last.