Thirty-nine bodies, including one of a teenager, have been found in a lorry container in Essex.

The bodies were found in a lorry on the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, at roughly 1.40am this morning.

It is understood the lorry was originally from Bulgaria and was travelling from Holyhead, Wales, where ferries sail to and from Ireland.

The lorry’s driver, a 24-year-old man from Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Police have not said where they believed the people who died were from or where they were thought to be travelling to. They said it could take a long time to identify those who have died.

Authorities were warned last year that people smugglers saw the Irish border as a weak point in the UK border and were taking migrants to Ireland before transporting them to Britain.

It is not known whether that happened in this case.