Austrian police find dozens dead inside lorry

Thursday, August 27, 2015 

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The turning for Parndorf off the A4, from file. The lorry was found on the road nearby.
Image: My Friend.

Screengrab of Hyza immigration graphic, from the company homepage.
Image: Hyza.

Austrian police today found an estimated 20–50 decomposing corpses in an apparently abandoned lorry.

Roadworkers who spotted the vehicle, which had been there since yesterday at least, alerted police. Responding officers found it full of corpses. The lorry is on the so-called "Eastern Motorway", the A4, close to the Hungarian border. It was on the hard shoulder between Neusiedl and Parndorf, closer to Parndorf.

The victims are thought to have suffocated. Police are seeking the driver. The Krone published an image of a non-articulated food lorry on the hard shoulder, which they report is the vehicle in question. The photo shows a pool of dark liquid on the ground beside the vehicle.

Video from a passing motorist shows at least one helicopter on-scene. The truck, which has pictures of meat on the side, appears to belong to Slovakian food firm Hyza. Earlier today the company's website sported an apparent anti-immigration graphic, which has since been removed.

Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner called it "a dark day" and called for European Union-wide measures to protect immigrant refugees and tackle human traffickers. Neighbouring Hungary is constructing a border fence across its entire frontier with Syria. Yesterday alone saw a record 3,241 attempts to enter Hungary illegally, according to authorities there.

Conflict in Syria and other parts of the world has led refugees to Europe. Once inside, they can move freely inside the Schengen Area, which covers most of the EU.

Austrian police earlier this week arrested three motorists suspected of people smuggling. One driver is accused of moving 34 people, ten of them children, into Austria from Serbia. The group were left by the roadside near Bruck an der Leitha and reported struggling to breathe in the van.

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Sources[edit]

This article features first-hand journalism by Wikinews members. See the collaboration page for more details.

• Adam Withnall. "EU migrant crisis: 50 refugees found 'suffocated' in the back of a single lorry in Austria, reports" — The Independent, August 27, 2015
• "Migrant crisis: Grim find of bodies in Austria lorry" — BBC News Online, August 27, 2015
• "At least 20 migrants found dead inside lorry in Austria" — The Guardian, August 27, 2015
• "Bis zu 50 Flüchtlinge in Schlepper- Lkw erstickt" — Kronen Zeitung, August 27, 2015 (German)
  

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