Mr Kim’s Journey Home
In October 2023 a family in Vietnam reached out to Locate International for help in finding their loved one Tran Van Kim, a 48-year-old man who had come to the UK more than 10 years before as an undocumented migrant.
Mr Kim’s family believed he had passed away some years earlier, but they did not know the circumstances nor were they able to lay him to rest. All they could provide us with was just a name, his Vietnamese National ID card and a Marriage Certificate.
Within one month of that initial contact by the family, Dr Chung Pham, our specialist in Vietnamese trafficking and missing person cases, was able to find Mr Kim’s ashes, confirming he had died in the UK.
Mr Kim’s body was discovered on 8th May 2009 in a ditch near the village of Five Roads in Carmarthenshire, Wales. He had been wrapped in plastic bags and bound with tape. A local council worker made the grim discovery, and police later established that Mr Kim had died in early May.
Investigators determined that he had been living and working in difficult circumstances at a property in nearby Porthyrhyd. Although the exact cause of death could not be confirmed, it was believed he may have died as a result of accidental electrocution. An inquest returned an open verdict.
It’s believed Mr Kim had been trafficked to the UK from Vietnam under false promises of a better life. Like many others, he had borrowed significant sums of money to fund the journey, only to find there was no legitimate work waiting for him. Instead, he was forced to work in a cannabis cultivation operation — a common destination for victims of human trafficking. These criminal enterprises often rely on forced labour, trapping vulnerable individuals in dangerous and exploitative conditions with threats made against them or their families.
A 70-year-old Vietnamese man was eventually jailed for leaving Mr Kim’s body by the roadside in an attempt to cover up the operation. But for many years, Mr Kim’s true identity remained unknown. Behind the headlines was a man who had been misled, exploited, and left without justice — someone with a name, a family, and a life that mattered.
Fortunately the police retained Mr Kim’s ashes following cremation, so Locate’s Co-Founder Dave Grimstead and Dr Chung were able to collect them from Dyfed Powys Police. They handed them over to a family representative at the Vietnamese church in London on 21st November 2023 so they could be transported back to his family in Vietnam.
On the 29th November 2023, Mr Kim’s family travelled to Noi Bai International Airport to receive Mr Kim’s ashes, and they held his official funeral just days later at his home address in Vietnam.
The Outcome and Impact
Sadly, not all missing persons cases have a happy ending, but it is important that we can provide closure to families who seek our help in finding out what has happened to their loved one. On this occasion, we were able to reunite Mr Kim’s ashes with his wife and family so they could move forward instead of wondering what had happened to him.
If you need help or support relating to Tran Van Kim
If you are worried about a missing loved one, please reach out to us on the form below. We are an independent, trusted charity with extensive experience helping families in difficult and sensitive circumstances. It is a completely free of charge service.
We are here to help, not to judge you or your loved one. You can contact us without fear – we will treat your information in strict confidence.
You do not need to speak English to contact us. Dr Chung Pham, our Vietnamese Ambassador, is available to support you and can personally take on your case.