the trial of a Dutch man who drove a truck in which 58 illegal Chinese immigrants were found suffocated opened in an English court yesterday.
Their deaths last June shocked Britain, where a debate is raging over how to handle the record number of asylum-seekers entering the country.
Looking extremely tense, Mr Perry Wacker (32), from Rotterdam, appeared in court to face 58 counts of manslaughter, which he denies. His trial, in Maidstone, Kent, could last six weeks. Mr Wacker could face life imprisonment if convicted. His case was adjourned until tomorrow.
Customs officers in the port of Dover found 60 young Chinese people, 58 of whom had suffocated, behind tomato pallets when they opened Mr Wacker's truck which had arrived on a ferry from Zeebruge in Belgium just before midnight on June 18th last year.
An inquiry revealed that the closing of a hatch on the side of the vehicle during the ferry trip had left them without oxygen.
They died despite desperate attempts to get help by banging on the walls of the sealed container. Only two of the illegal immigrants, all of whom came from the southern Chinese province of Fujian, survived.
Several people were arrested in the Netherlands and Britain over the incident, including two people who were charged with conspiracy to facilitate illegal entry. One of them, Mr Ying Guo, a Chinese national, is being tried with Mr Wacker. Both have been provided with translators. The charges were dropped against the second person.
The case comes in the run-up to a general election and as the government is stepping up its battle against illegal immigration.