Seventy-one migrants including four children died from suffocation inside an abandoned lorry in Austria, police said on Friday. Fifty-nine men, eight women and four children were found dead in the lorry.
Four people have been arrested in Hungary in relation to the deaths, which was initially estimated at 20 to 50.
The migrants died inside a white refrigeration vehicle designed to
carry frozen food. The bodies were so tightly packed and decomposed that
police were initially unable to count them accurately.
The lorry was found near Austria’s eastern border with Hungary. Police
believe it was parked for at least 24 hours before the bodies were
discovered. Some or all are believed to have been Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country, after a Syrian passport was found inside the lorry.
“Our investigation has to focus on the hard core of these three,” he said. There was also confusion over the nationality of the lorry’s owner. Mr Doskozil described him as having Hungarian papers, but said the nationalities of those being held indicated a “Bulgarian-Romanian trafficking organisation”. A total of seven people were detained in Hungary in connection with the deaths, but some have since been released, the police chief added. 'Wake up call to find a solution' Police have set up a telephone hotline for anyone concerned their relatives may have been among those in the lorry to contact. “One Syrian travel document was found inside the lorry,. As to whether they were all Syrians, it’s too early to say,” Mr Doskozil said. “It’s an important part of our investigation that we can eventually say who these people were, who met a tragic death here.” Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the Austrian interior minister, described the deaths of the migrants as a “wake-up call and reminder that we have to find a swift European solution” to the migrant crisis. “These traffickers are criminals,”she said. “They are not helpers aiding people to escape.” In a separate incident on Friday, Hungarian police said ten people were injured after a van carrying at least 18 Syrian migrants overturned on the M5 highway early in the morning. A Romanian man believed to be the driver was arrested. The incidents came as European governments struggled to cope with the arrival of tens of thousands of desperate migrants from Africa and the Middle East. Germany on Thursday announced a plan to reform the benefits paid to asylum seekers, while Italy prepared to house migrants in disused prisons. In an interview with The Telegraph, Sweden gave warning that Britain would eventually be forced to accept a quota of refugees. Werner Faymann, the Austrian chancellor, condemned the people traffickers who routinely smuggle their charges into Europe hidden inside lorries. “Today refugees lost the lives they had tried to save by escaping - but lost them at the hands of traffickers,” he said. The vehicle, carrying Hungarian licence plates, was found on the A4 highway near the town of Parndorf. The white lorry displayed the slogan “Honest chicken” and “I taste so well because they feed me so well”. Its logos suggested the vehicle was owned by Hyza, a Slovak meat company controlled by Agrofert Holding, a Czech conglomerate. But a statement from Agrofert said the lorry had been sold last year – and the new owners had apparently failed to remove the insignia. Those hiding on board had been dead for several days. Whether they were killed by asphyxiation, hypothermia or some other cause was unclear. The truck was left at the lay-by on Wednesday with its rear door open. Its location suggested that this group of migrants had crossed into Austria from Hungary, which has become a major entry-point for refugees trying to reach the European Union.
The tragedy in Austria shocked European leaders, who were holding a summit on the migration crisis in Vienna, barely 30 miles away from the lorry packed with bodies.
Morgan Johansson, the Swedish justice and migration minister, warned that Britain will be eventually be forced to take a share of these arrivals. “Every country that is a part of the European Union should do their share, and that goes for everyone,” he told The Telegraph. "Sooner or later there will be a mechanism that makes it compulsory for all countries to do their share, because that’s the way Europe works.”
Sweden accepts more refugees per capita than any other EU member: over 8,400 per million people in 2014, compared with 500 per million in Britain. “When the UK is not doing their share, that creates bigger problems for the rest of us,” added Mr Johansson.
He criticised David Cameron for talking of “a swarm” of migrants in June. “You must ask David Cameron why he uses rhetoric like that,” said Mr Johansson. “I think you should have a constructive approach when you are dealing with matters concerning life and death.”
Italy, a main entry point for migrants using the Mediterranean route, is now considering a series of emergency measures to accommodate its new arrivals, including housing them inside old prisons, disused barracks – or even derelict factories. About 40 prisons are standing empty across Italy, along with dozens of old military bases and disused factories.
In Germany, which receives the most asylum applications of any EU country, the government has proposed to cut the cash benefits given to asylum-seekers and give them food and clothing directly instead.
Any cash payments will only be made one month in advance. Germany’s goal is to reduce the huge number of migrants who arrive from the Balkans with no realistic chance of being granted asylum.
Hashim Thaci, the foreign minister of Kosovo, told The Telegraph that his tiny country – the poorest and youngest in Europe – would help to manage the crisis. “I have nothing but sympathy when I see people fleeing for their lives,” he said. “But at the same time, big global problems need big global solutions – and we can be part of that.”
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