Austria Raises Estimate of Number of Migrants Found Dead to More Than 70
Bodies were found in a truck parked on one of the main migration routes from eastern to western Europe
Forensic police officers inspect a parked truck in which migrants were found dead off a highway outside Vienna on Thursday. PHOTO:REUTERS
The number of migrants found dead in a truck off a highway outside of Vienna has been raised to more than 70, from an initial estimate of between 30 and 50, spokesmen for the Austrian interior ministry and police said Friday.
The bodies were found in an abandoned delivery truck parked on one of the main migration routes from eastern to western Europe, Austrian police said Thursday.
Police and forensic medical examiners are trying to ascertain the migrants’ identities and how they died, thought to be by suffocation or dehydration. Police are scheduled to hold a news conference on their findings so far at 0900 GMT.
The truck with Hungarian license plates was found near the Austrian village of Parndorf, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Hungarian border.
On Thursday, Austria’s regional police chief said the migrants had presumably been dead for one or two days. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they had died before crossing the border in the truck.
Austria’s police said they were in contact with their counterparts in Hungary regarding ownership of the truck, which appeared to be a refrigerator vehicle previously used to transport chickens.
While more than 2,300 people have died this year trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration, the gruesome discovery in inland Europe casts a sharp light on the European Union’s struggle to deal with increasing numbers of refugees crossing its borders.
The quickening flow and its consequences have sparked a debate about whether and how the influx of migrants into border states should be shared among all EU countries.
Many migrants are now traveling from Turkey to Greece and then across the Balkans to Hungary, a course considered less risky than the often deadly sea route. Around 3,000 people a day are currently being moved through the Balkans, the United Nations’ refugee agency estimates. The route has been used by roughly 10 times as many migrants so far this year as over the same period last year, according to the EU border agency Frontex.
Forensic police officers inspect a parked truck in which migrants were found dead off a highway outside Vienna on Thursday. PHOTO:REUTERS
The number of migrants found dead in a truck off a highway outside of Vienna has been raised to more than 70, from an initial estimate of between 30 and 50, spokesmen for the Austrian interior ministry and police said Friday.
The bodies were found in an abandoned delivery truck parked on one of the main migration routes from eastern to western Europe, Austrian police said Thursday.
Police and forensic medical examiners are trying to ascertain the migrants’ identities and how they died, thought to be by suffocation or dehydration. Police are scheduled to hold a news conference on their findings so far at 0900 GMT.
The truck with Hungarian license plates was found near the Austrian village of Parndorf, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Hungarian border.
On Thursday, Austria’s regional police chief said the migrants had presumably been dead for one or two days. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they had died before crossing the border in the truck.
Austria’s police said they were in contact with their counterparts in Hungary regarding ownership of the truck, which appeared to be a refrigerator vehicle previously used to transport chickens.
While more than 2,300 people have died this year trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration, the gruesome discovery in inland Europe casts a sharp light on the European Union’s struggle to deal with increasing numbers of refugees crossing its borders.
The quickening flow and its consequences have sparked a debate about whether and how the influx of migrants into border states should be shared among all EU countries.
Many migrants are now traveling from Turkey to Greece and then across the Balkans to Hungary, a course considered less risky than the often deadly sea route. Around 3,000 people a day are currently being moved through the Balkans, the United Nations’ refugee agency estimates. The route has been used by roughly 10 times as many migrants so far this year as over the same period last year, according to the EU border agency Frontex.
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