It has not yet been confirmed that Pham Thi Tra My was one of the victims on the truck, but her family said they fear the worst. UK authorities are working with their Vietnamese counterparts to identify the victims but have not yet officially named any of them or confirmed their nationalities.

Speaking to CNN in the family’s home in Vietnam, Pham Van Thin was still overcome with grief, saying it was “very painful” to receive the text. He said his daughter must have known she was going to die when she sent it.

“I’ve lost both my loved one and my money,” Pham said, adding that the smugglers they paid did not tell the family how they would transport Tra My to the UK. She traveled to the country via China and France, but eventually fell out of contact with her family, after which Pham reported her missing.

By then it was too late, Pham Thi Tra My and the other 38 people on board the truck were trapped and running out of oxygen.

“The smugglers said that this was a … safe route, that people would go by airplane, car … if I had known she would go by this route, I would not have let her go,” Pham said.

Nguyen Thi Phong said she is now dependent on the British and Vietnamese authorities to bring home their daughter. Neither she or her husband know whether they will ever get any of the money back they spent funding their daughter’s doomed journey.

Four people arrested due to investigation about Essex Truck

Much is still unclear about this tragedy, which came to light in the early hours of Wednesday morning UK time, when paramedics were called to a truck container at an industrial park outside London. Inside they found the bodies of 31 men and eight woman, all believed to be either Chinese or Vietnamese nationals.

UK police appear to have established that the truck and its container followed two separate routes — coming together towards the end of the journey shortly before the grisly discovery.

They have arrested the truck driver, a 25-year-old Northern Irish man who met the container near where it was discovered, having driven from Northern Ireland via Wales. The container itself had traveled from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

Three other people have also been arrested, as police in the UK and Belgium continue their investigations.