Two more people have been arrested in connection with the deaths of 39 people in a truck in Essex, UK

Essex Police said a man and woman, both in their thirties, had been arrested in Warrington in Cheshire on suspicion of manslaughter and conspiracy to traffic people. The driver of the truck remains in custody on suspicion of murder.

Meanwhile the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said it  hopes the United Kingdom can confirm the nationalities of the victims in the incident and punish the criminals involved in the case

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying expressed sorrow over the deaths, saying the Chinese government is paying a lot of attention to this case and is in close contact with local authorities. 

The global community should pay attention to the illegal immigrants' issue and strengthen cooperation to prevent such tragedies from happening again, said Hua at a press conference. 

Eight women and 31 men were found dead inside a refrigerated container lorry in Grays, UK on Wednesday.

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UK police investigate after 39 dead bodies found in truck

The investigation is still underway. Earlier, the Chinese Embassy in the UK said it had contacted British police on the Essex truck incident, and so far, the police have not confirmed their assumption that the victims are Chinese nationals.

British authorities are conducting autopsies on the victims as they begin the process of identifying them and establishing how and when they died.

Chinese consular official, Tong Xuejun, told CGTN that he was working closely with police. 

Police have been granted extra time to question the 25-year-old lorry driver on suspicion of murder.

The case is said to be the largest murder investigation in the history of Essex Police.

The deaths echo the discovery of 58 Chinese immigrants hidden in a Dutch truck in the English port of Dover in 2000. Only two survived.

The truck itself entered the UK via Holyhead in North Wales on October 20, having traveled there from Dublin.

However, the container in which the body was found had traveled from Zeebrugge in Belgium to the port of Purfleet in Essex, England, at around 00:30 local time on October 23. The cab picked up the trailer and left the port shortly after 01:05 local time on Wednesday.

Emergency services arrived at Waterglade Industrial Park soon after, having been alerted to the incident.

A driver from Lithuania spoke to CGTN near the Essex depot and said that containers and refrigerated trailers are sealed when drivers pick them up, and drivers don't check the cargo inside. This means drivers can be unwittingly caught up in people smuggling.