IMMIGRANTS found in shipping container with a man who died at Tilbury Docks are expected to be questioned today.

Essex Police and the UK Border Agency are expected to question the 34 survivors, including women and children, at an immigration reception centre near the port, where they were found in a shipping container from Belgium yesterday morning.

British investigators from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate have been liaising with Interpol and other international authorities in a bid to catch the human traffickers who helped the group travel from Zeebrugge, in Belgium, aboard a P&O ferry.

Belgian police have identified the lorry that delivered the container to Zeebrugge through CCTV footage, but are yet to clarify its origin.

Chief Inspector Peter De Waele from the Belgian police said: "The Belgian civil police is checking all the images and my colleagues are very, very hopeful that we find the truck who put the container in Zeebrugge.

"I think it is very, very important that we have the identification of that truck and also of the driver."

The immigrants, all thought to be from the Indian subcontinent, were rescued after port authorities heard banging and screaming from inside the container at around 6.30am yesterday.

One man died and the others were taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia and dehydration.

Among them were 18 who were taken to Basildon Hospital with dehydration and hypothermia, two in a serious but not life-threatening condition.

They have responded well to treatment and the 11 adults and seven children are now "medically fit enough" to be released, a hospital spokeswoman said last night.

Nine people were taken to the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, while a further seven were taken to Southend Hospital, all with the same ailments.

The immigrants, all thought to be from the Indian subcontinent, were rescued after port authorities heard banging and screaming from inside the container at around 6.30am yesterday.

One man died and the others were taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia and dehydration.

Among them were 18 who were taken to Basildon Hospital with dehydration and hypothermia, two in a serious but not life-threatening condition.

They have responded well to treatment and the 11 adults and seven children are now "medically fit enough" to be released, a hospital spokeswoman said last night.

Nine people were taken to the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, while a further seven were taken to Southend Hospital, all with the same ailments.

No information has been released about the ages of any of the people or the relationship between them.

Describing them as victims of "people trafficking", Superintendent Trevor Roe of Essex Police said they had been in the container a "significant amount of time" and that now police were working with international agencies to establish their movements prior to arriving in the UK.

He said yesterday: "We understand that the occupants of the container are from the Indian states. Exactly where they travelled from and their intended destination remains unclear.

"My understanding on the update of the 35 people is this - they are recovering fairly quickly in most cases and are being detained under immigration powers and will be taken to a reception centre.

"A handful of individuals might be kept in overnight for observation but my understanding is most of the persons are recovering well.

"Once the victims - and I will call them victims - of this crime, people trafficking - we need to understand the origin of that, and we need to establish through investigation what offences have been committed."

Investigators have begun tracking the movements of the container, which was one of around 50 on board the P&O Ferries commercial vessel the Norstream, and have made "good progress", Mr Roe said, adding: "That is a key line of inquiry."

Mr Roe said the investigation will "span a number of countries".

He said: "It is a homicide investigation... we will be looking to see where the origin and the gangs or whoever may (be) involved in this conspiracy to bring these people in this way over to this country. Clearly we need to try and bring them to justice."

Asked to clarify the nature of the homicide investigation, police said charges could include murder and manslaughter, although there was no suggestion anyone on the container was a suspect.

The superintendent added: "Nothing has been ruled out. We need to speak to the people in the container, where they have come from, what their motivation is and who's involved."