Lorry full of refugees’ bodies found abandoned on roadside in Austria
Up to 50 dead, say police as they struggle to count victims because they were so tightly packed
EUROPE’S migration crisis was scarred by tragedy once again yesterday when at least 20 decomposing bodies were found inside an abandoned lorry in Austria.
The migrants died inside a white refrigeration vehicle designed to carry frozen food. The bodies were so tightly packed that police found it impossible to count them accurately. They said that the final total could be up to 50.
The discovery near Austria’s eastern border with Hungary came as European governments struggled to cope with the arrival of tens of thousands of desperate migrants from Africa and the Middle East.
Germany yesterday 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 Daily Tele
graph, a Swedish minister warned that Britain would eventually be forced to accept a quota of refugees.
The latest 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.
Werner Faymann, the Austrian chancellor, criticised the people traffickers who routinely smuggle their charges into Europe 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, which had Hungarian licence plates, was found on the A4 highway near the town of Parndorf. Its logos suggested the vehicle was owned by Hyza, a Slovak meat company controlled by Agrofert Holding, a Czech conglomerate. But 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, hypother- mia or another cause was unclear. The lorry was left at the lay-by on Wednesday with its rear door open. Its location suggested that the group had crossed into Austria from Hungary.
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 said.
“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: more than 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.
Italy is now considering a series of emergency measures to accommodate its arrivals, including housing them inside old prisons, disused barracks or even derelict 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.
Hundreds of migrants are feared to have drowned last night after two boats carrying an estimated 500 people capsized off Libya. One of the boats was relatively small and carried around 50 people, while the other had more than 400 people on board.
More than 100 bodies were reportedly taken to hospital in the Libyan city of Zuwara and it was feared the death toll would grow.