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| Migrant crisis: 71 bodies found in Austria lorry | Migrant crisis: 71 bodies found in Austria lorry |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Police in Austria say the bodies of 71 people, thought to be migrants, were found in an abandoned lorry found on a motorway on Thursday. | Police in Austria say the bodies of 71 people, thought to be migrants, were found in an abandoned lorry found on a motorway on Thursday. |
| The bodies of 59 men, 8 women and four children are thought to have been dead for one-and-a-half to two days. | The bodies of 59 men, 8 women and four children are thought to have been dead for one-and-a-half to two days. |
| Police said the victims appeared to be migrants from Syria and probably died after suffocating in the vehicle. | Police said the victims appeared to be migrants from Syria and probably died after suffocating in the vehicle. |
| Three people, thought to be Bulgarian, have been detained in Hungary. They are believed to have driven the lorry. | Three people, thought to be Bulgarian, have been detained in Hungary. They are believed to have driven the lorry. |
| Police sent to investigate the dumped lorry on the A4 motorway towards Vienna discovered the decomposing bodies on Thursday morning. | |
| The vehicle was towed to a customs building with refrigeration facilities where forensic teams worked through the night to examine the bodies. | |
| The victims are thought to have been dead when the vehicle crossed into Austria from Hungary. | |
| The local police chief said a travel document found on the vehicle suggested that the group were Syrian migrants. | |
| "We found a Syrian travel document, so our preliminary assumption is of course that they were refugees, possibly a group of Syrian refugees," Hans Peter Doskozil, Burgenland province police chief, told reporters. | |
| Among the victims was a girl aged between one and two, and a boy aged between eight and nine years old. | |
| He said the three people being held in Hungary would "lead to the perpetrators", adding that there was "an indication we are talking about a Bulgarian-Hungarian human trafficking operation". | |
| The vehicle had the branding of a Slovakian poultry company, Hyza, on it but the firm said it no longer owned the vehicle. | |
| The Hungarian prime minister's chief of staff, Janos Lazar, said on Friday that the lorry was registered to a Romanian citizen in Kecskemet, a city in central Hungary. | The Hungarian prime minister's chief of staff, Janos Lazar, said on Friday that the lorry was registered to a Romanian citizen in Kecskemet, a city in central Hungary. |
| Mr Doskozil said it was a refrigerated vehicle and was not the typical choice for people smugglers. | |
| The lorry, which has Hungarian number plates, is understood to have left Budapest on Wednesday morning. | The lorry, which has Hungarian number plates, is understood to have left Budapest on Wednesday morning. |
| Why is EU struggling with migrant crisis? | Why is EU struggling with migrant crisis? |
| Truck sightings | Truck sightings |
| Early Wednesday: Police believe the truck set off from south-east of Budapest | 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 | 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 seen parked in lay-by on A4 motorway between Neusiedl and Parndorf | 05:00 or 06:00 Thursday: Truck seen parked in lay-by on A4 motorway between Neusiedl and Parndorf |
| 11:30 Thursday: Austrian police open the truck and find bodies | 11:30 Thursday: Austrian police open the truck and find bodies |
| 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. | 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. |
| A record number of 107,500 migrants crossed the EU's borders last month. | A record number of 107,500 migrants crossed the EU's borders last month. |
| Some of them pay large sums of money to people smugglers to get them through borders illegally. | Some of them pay large sums of money to people smugglers to get them through borders illegally. |
| Meanwhile, migrants continue to die as they try to reach Europe via the central Mediterranean route. | Meanwhile, migrants continue to die as they try to reach Europe via the central Mediterranean route. |
| Hundreds of people are feared to have died after two vessels carrying migrants sank off the coast of Libya on Thursday. | Hundreds of people are feared to have died after two vessels carrying migrants sank off the coast of Libya on Thursday. |
| Migrants' perilous Western Balkan route to Germany | Migrants' perilous Western Balkan route to Germany |
| Are more people on the move than ever before? | Are more people on the move than ever before? |
| Have you been affected by this story? If you wish to contact BBC News, you can do so by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk | Have you been affected by this story? If you wish to contact BBC News, you can do so by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk |
| Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: | Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: |
| Or use the form below | Or use the form below |