Police find 71 corpses inside truck near Hungarian border, as toll in twin shipwrecks climbs to 150
The migrants found dead in Austria aboard a midsize truck once used to transport chickens had been crammed so tightly inside its hold that, at first, authorities didn’t think it could possibly contain more than 50 corpses.
But when police extracted their bodies on Friday they found 71, including those of four children, and uncovered fresh details of the desperate journey of those aboard. Hundreds of miles to the south, rescue workers were recovering dozens of bodies from two shipwrecks off the Libyan coast—tragedies shedding light on the brutal tactics of the people-smuggling operations that stretch from across the Mediterranean to deep within Europe’s borders.
Many of the corpses found in the truck in Austria were so decomposed that officials say they likely had died up to two days earlier, before they ever crossed into Western Europe. The truck’s cargo hold had no openings for ventilation on its sides, suggesting they suffocated, police said. Austrian authorities said an expert would examine the truck, including whether damage on its side pointed to a desperate struggle to get out.
A Syrian travel document found at the scene indicated that many had come from the war-ravaged country. Despite their better odds of being granted asylum in the European Union than migrants from elsewhere, aid groups say more Syrian refugees are turning to overland smugglers as sea routes become more difficult and European governments increasingly try to block migrants traveling on their own across the continent.
Hungarian police said that they had arrested four men—three Bulgarians and one Afghan national—suspected of being involved in the migrants’ deaths. The men, who weren’t identified, included the alleged driver of the truck, Austrian police said.
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The extent of Europe’s spiraling migration crisis was made even more apparent by news Friday that the death toll in twin shipwrecks near the Libyan coast had reached 150 people, with many more feared dead. Two boats, estimated to be carrying as many as 500 migrants altogether, had capsized the night before as they embarked on the perilous passage toward European shores.
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