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3 Children Among Migrants Found Crammed in Van Are Hospitalized in Austria
3 Children Among Migrants Found Crammed in Van Are Hospitalized in Austria
(about 1 hour later)
VIENNA — Three small children found crammed into a small van with 23 other migrants were hospitalized with severe dehydration in northern Austria, narrowly averting another fatal tragedy for refugees fleeing the Middle East and risking their lives with smugglers, the police said Saturday.
VIENNA — Three small children found crammed into a small van with 23 other migrants were hospitalized with severe dehydration in northern Austria, narrowly averting another fatal tragedy for refugees fleeing the Middle East and risking their lives with smugglers, the police said Saturday.
The police found the children around 4 a.m. Friday after an early-morning chase of a suspicious vehicle spotted near the Austrian-German border near Braunau.
The police found the children around 4 a.m. Friday after a chase of a suspicious vehicle spotted near the Austrian-German border near Braunau.
The driver of the vehicle initially ignored the police lights and appeals to stop, setting off at high speed and probably sending his human cargo careening from side to side, said the police spokesman, David Furtner. Eventually, the driver stopped, and the police arrested him and found the 26 refugees.
The discovery came less than 24 hours after the Austrian police found 71 decomposing bodies in a truck southeast of Vienna.
Five-year-old twin girls and a 6-year-old boy, all from Syria, were in life-threatening condition and taken immediately to the hospital in Braunau, Mr. Furtner said. Their parents accompanied them, and are still with the children, whose conditions have improved, he said.
The driver of the vehicle intercepted Friday initially ignored the police appeals to stop, said the police spokesman, David Furtner. Eventually, the driver stopped, and the police found the 26 refugees.
The driver, a 29-year-old Romanian whose van had Romanian plates, has been arrested and is in detention, Mr. Furtner said.
Five-year-old twin girls and a 6-year-old boy, all from Syria, were in life-threatening condition and taken immediately to the hospital in Braunau, Mr. Furtner said. Their conditions have since improved, he said.
The discovery came less than 24 hours after the police found 71 decomposing bodies in a truck southeast of Vienna. That grisly find attracted international attention to the trafficking business behind the migration of tens of thousands of people fleeing war and despair in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
The driver, a 29-year-old Romanian, has been arrested, Mr. Furtner said.
On Saturday, three Bulgarians and one Afghan who are suspects in the fatal smuggling case appeared in court in Kecskemet, Hungary, and were ordered to remain in detention pending trial on charges of human trafficking involving torture and financial gain. Officials would not release the identities of the men, and provided few details, but said the suspects had picked up the 71 migrants on the Serbian border.
The grisly discovery of bodies near Vienna has drawn international attention to the trafficking business behind the migration of tens of thousands of people fleeing war and despair in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Ferenc Bicskei, president of the Kecskemet regional court said in a news conference that the local courts had lately been seeing 25 to 30 human smuggling cases each month, and that in response sentencing practices would be more severe, without parole.
On Saturday, three Bulgarians and one Afghan who are suspects in that fatal smuggling case appeared in court in Kecskemet, Hungary, and were ordered to remain in detention pending trial on charges of human trafficking involving torture and financial gain. Officials would not release their identities, and provided few details, but said the suspects had picked up the 71 migrants on the Serbian border.
The toughening stance did not seem to have slowed the activity on the border. During the past day, the Hungarian police said, they had detained 2,822 people who crossed the border illegally and started criminal proceedings against 13 smugglers who had tried to drive dozens more migrants, crammed in trucks, through the country.
Ferenc Bicskei, president of the Kecskemet regional court said in a news conference that the local courts had lately been seeing 25 to 30 human smuggling cases each month, and that in response sentences would be more severe.
The migrants found on Friday crammed into the van were from Syria, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the Braunau spokesman added. All have so far declined to apply for asylum in Austria, saying they want to continue to Germany. This will most likely mean that they will be sent back to Hungary under European Union rules that state that migrants should be registered in the first member state they are proved to have entered.
During the past day, the Hungarian police said, they had detained 2,822 people who crossed the border illegally and started criminal proceedings against 13 smugglers who had tried to drive migrants, crammed in trucks, through the country.
Many of the tens of thousands of migrants who have rolled northward from Turkey via the Greek islands, then mainland Greece, Macedonia and Serbia, have declined to settle in Hungary. Greece is a European Union member.
The migrants found on Friday in the van were from Syria, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the Braunau spokesman added. All have declined to apply for asylum in Austria, saying they want to continue to Germany. This will most likely mean that they will be sent back to Hungary under European Union rules that state that migrants should be registered in the first member state they are proved to have entered.
The chaos has left the European rules in tatters, with the dysfunction enhanced by the failure so far of the bloc members to agree on uniform standards for asylum and fair distribution of migrants.
