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| Migrant crisis: More than 70 bodies found in Austria lorry | Migrant crisis: More than 70 bodies found in Austria lorry |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Austrian officials now say more than 70 bodies, thought to be migrants, were in an abandoned lorry found on a motorway. | Austrian officials now say more than 70 bodies, thought to be migrants, were in an abandoned lorry found on a motorway. |
| They originally estimated that between 20 to 50 people died in the vehicle, found near the Hungarian border. | They originally estimated that between 20 to 50 people died in the vehicle, found near the Hungarian border. |
| Police discovered the decomposing bodies on Thursday morning after being sent to investigate the dumped lorry on the A4 motorway heading towards Vienna. | Police discovered the decomposing bodies on Thursday morning after being sent to investigate the dumped lorry on the A4 motorway heading towards Vienna. |
| The local police chief said it appeared those in the vehicle had been dead for one and a half to two days. | The local police chief said it appeared those in the vehicle had been dead for one and a half to two days. |
| The victims were probably already dead when the vehicle crossed into Austria from Hungary, authorities said. | |
| The vehicle was towed to a customs building with refrigeration facilities in Nickelsdorf on Thursday. | |
| Forensic teams worked through the night to examine the bodies. | |
| Austrian police are expected to reveal the exact toll at a news conference at 11:00 (09:00 GMT) on Friday. | |
| The Austrian and Hungarian police are working together to try and find the driver. | |
| The vehicle bears the logo of a Slovakian poultry company, Hyza, which said it no longer owned the vehicle - but the buyers had not removed the branding. | |
| Hans Peter Doskozil, police chief in the Burgenland province where the lorry was found, said it was a refrigerated vehicle - not the typical choice for people smugglers, he added. | |
| The lorry, which has Hungarian number plates, is understood to have left Budapest on Wednesday morning. | |
| 'Warning to Europe' | |
| Tens of thousands of migrants from conflict-hit states in the Middle East and Africa have been trying to make their way to Europe in recent months. | |
| Some of them pay large sums of money to people smugglers to get them through borders illegally. | |
| German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in Austria for a summit with Balkan leaders on the migrant crisis, said she was "shaken" by the "horrible" news. | |
| "This is a warning to us to tackle this migrants issue quickly and in a European spirit, which means in a spirit of solidarity, and to find solutions," Mrs Merkel said. | |
| Migrants' perilous Western Balkan route to Germany | |
| Why is EU struggling with migrant crisis? | |
| Truck sightings | |
| Early Wednesday: Police believe the truck set off from south-east of Budapest | |
| 09:00 Wednesday: Truck recorded on cameras at Hegyeshalom on the Hungarian side of the border with Austria | |
| 05:00 or 06:00 Thursday: Truck was already parked in the lay-by, between Neusiedl and Parndorf, at this time | |
| 11:30 Thursday: Austrian police open the truck and find bodies |