A village in Vietnam has said farewell to two of its sons who were among those who died in a human trafficking tragedy last month.

Their bodies were among 39 Vietnamese people discovered in a lorry in England.

Coffins with the bodies of cousins Nguyen Van Hung and Hoang Van Tiep were carried to a church in the village of Dien Thinh for a funeral attended by about 300 people.

“Nguyen Van Hung and Hoang Van Tiep left their home town to find a better future for themselves and for their families,” said Reverend Pham Tri Phuong.

“But the tragedy happened that brought grave pain to the family and for all of us.”

The 31 men and eight women, aged between 15 and 44, are believed to have paid human traffickers to smuggle them to England.

While no cause of death has been officially established, the circumstances suggested asphyxiation.

The investigation is ongoing, and several people have been arrested in Britain and Vietnam.

In Dien Thinh, a rural village of about 300 households on the coast of north-central Vietnam, they mourned not just the deaths, but also the circumstances.

“How can we not be in great pain when seeing their ageing parents have to bid farewell to their young children,” the priest told mourners.

“How can we be not in great pain to see our brothers who had to suffer such a way of dying in a place so far from home.”

The two cousins were buried side by side.