Austria raises migrant truck death toll to over 70
- 9 years ago
More than 70 bodies have been recovered from a lorry found abandoned near the border with Hungary, officials have said.
The announcement from the Austrian interior ministry on Friday represents a significant rise in the number of people, thought to be migrants, who are known to have died. Police had originally put the toll at 50.
The refrigerated, air-tight truck was found on Thursday by an Austrian motorway patrol with fluid seeping out. The bodies were probably inside for two days.
Austrian and Hungarian police are trying to find the driver.
Local police chief Hans Peter Doskozil described the moment the truck doors were opened:
“Our initial suspicions were confirmed. Inside the truck there were numerous dead bodies in an advanced state of decay.”
The vehicle bore the logo of a Slovakian poultry company, Hyza, which reportedly says the lorry had been sold.
It was found on Thursday by a motorway patrol on the A4, one of the main routes to Vienna.
It had been seen near
The announcement from the Austrian interior ministry on Friday represents a significant rise in the number of people, thought to be migrants, who are known to have died. Police had originally put the toll at 50.
The refrigerated, air-tight truck was found on Thursday by an Austrian motorway patrol with fluid seeping out. The bodies were probably inside for two days.
Austrian and Hungarian police are trying to find the driver.
Local police chief Hans Peter Doskozil described the moment the truck doors were opened:
“Our initial suspicions were confirmed. Inside the truck there were numerous dead bodies in an advanced state of decay.”
The vehicle bore the logo of a Slovakian poultry company, Hyza, which reportedly says the lorry had been sold.
It was found on Thursday by a motorway patrol on the A4, one of the main routes to Vienna.
It had been seen near