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71 Migrants Found Dead in Truck Likely Suffocated, Austrian Official Says A Day After 71 Migrants Died, 81 Escaped the Back of a Truck in Austria
(about 4 hours later)
EISENSTADT, Austria — The authorities have not yet been able to identify “with 100 percent certainty” the cause of death of 71 migrants found in a truck last week on the side of an Austrian highway near the Hungarian border, but evidence indicates that they suffocated shortly after undertaking the journey, an Austrian police official told reporters on Friday. EISENSTADT, Austria — Smugglers whose callous negligence killed 71 refugees found in an abandoned truck last week at the side of an Austrian highway risked the death of scores more just a day later, the police said on Friday. But those migrants saved their lives by breaking open a truck door with a crowbar and were eventually abandoned near a traffic circle in eastern Austria.
The Austrian police have been unable to identify any of the 71 people, but said for the first time that the group included Afghans, Iraqis and Syrians, and at least one family, whose nationality was not given. Six people — five Bulgarian citizens and an Afghan with Hungarian residence papers — have been arrested so far in the 71 deaths, which were almost certainly caused by asphyxiation, said Hans Peter Doskozil, the police chief of Austria’s easternmost province of Burgenland.
The migrants’ journey began early on Aug. 26 near the Serbian-Hungarian border. The Austrian authorities discovered the truck the next day but say they believe that the refugees inside had died within one to one and a half hours of crowding into the truck. The dead were among tens of thousands of people who have fled war in the Middle East in recent months, heading for wealthy northern Europe via Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary. Their discovery shocked Europe a week before pictures of a 3-year-old Syrian boy lying dead on a Turkish beach prompted outcry around the world about the millions of Syrians displaced — and often forgotten — in conflict.
“If you take into account the number of people and lack of oxygen, it’s fair to assume that asphyxiation occurred very quickly,” said Hans Peter Doskozil, director of the police in the eastern state of Burgenland. That would mean that the victims died while still on the road in Hungary, he said. Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans were among the dead in the truck, Mr. Doskozil said, adding that at least one family had perished. Investigators combing through 17 travel documents, 40 cellphones and about 350 bits of clothing and other items have not been able to positively identify any victims, he said.
Investigators found 17 travel documents on the bodies of the victims, indicating that they were Afghan, Iraqi and Syrian citizens, Mr. Doskozil said. The advanced state of decomposition of the bodies has made the investigation difficult and the authorities do not expect to have a final result for several more weeks, he said. But the investigations also uncovered an almost catastrophic episode a day later, attributable to the same smuggling ring involved in the 71 deaths, Mr. Doskozil said.
Authorities hope to find further clues to the victims’ identities through evaluation of 40 cellphones found in the truck and more than 300 tips that have come in through a hotline, including some from people who say they are relatives of the victims and are willing to give DNA samples, Mr. Doskozil said. On Aug. 27, as his officers made their grisly find of the corpses, another of the dozens of vehicles smuggling migrants daily into Austria and Germany stopped near the town of Gols and disgorged its passengers near a traffic circle, Mr. Doskozil said.
“Based on a technical investigation of the vehicle, which was locked airtight and the cooling system was not connected, we do not believe it was capable of letting in any fresh air,” Mr. Doskozil said. “The volume of the cargo area indicates that they died of asphyxiation within a short period of time.” As is now known, they had survived their journey only after some of the passengers crammed inside twice used a crowbar to open a sliding door on the side of the vehicle, Mr. Doskozil said.
Six men suspected of belonging to a human trafficking ring involved in the case have been arrested by the Hungarian and Bulgarian authorities acting on a European arrest warrant, said Verena Strnad, a spokeswoman for Eisenstadt prosecutors. Five suspects, including the driver, remain in detention in Hungary and one in Bulgaria, Ms. Strnad said. Altogether, 81 people were on board that truck. They were picked up by the police, registered and distributed among centers across Austria now caring for migrants, Mr. Doskozil said.
After photos of the suspects were released, the authorities were informed about another group of 81 people believed to have been smuggled across borders by the same ring in a similarly airtight truck, under conditions that were equally perilous, except that the group was able to pry open a side door to let in enough air to survive the trip to Austria, Mr. Doskozil said. Their narrow escape came to light only after some of them contacted the police when they saw pictures last weekend of the five men arrested and taken to court in Hungary in connection with the 71 deaths. Their driver was among the men detained, Mr. Doskozil said.
Six members of that group of migrants, who have been distributed to different regions across Austria, have been interviewed, and their testimony corroborates statements given by witnesses who helped identify the six suspects. Mr. Doskozil said that the first truck, intended for the transport of refrigerated meat, had no open air ducts and its cooling system had been switched off.
The police are now certain that truck came into Austria from Hungary around 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 26, nearly five hours after smugglers picked up their human cargo near the Serbian-Hungarian border and crowded people aboard, he said.
The truck was driven straight to Budapest and then west toward Vienna. “Based on a technical investigation,” Mr. Doskozil said, “we do not believe that it was capable of letting in any fresh air.”
“The volume of the cargo area indicates that they died of asphyxiation,” he said, adding that they probably died within 60 to 90 minutes of boarding, he said.
That would mean that the deaths occurred in Hungary. It is still not clear whether the smugglers knew of the fatalities; Mr. Doskozil said three witnesses had reported seeing a man near the truck a day before it was eventually opened.
Both trucks, almost identical in size and purchased and registered at the same time, were owned by the same Bulgarian citizen of Lebanese descent, Mr. Doskozil said.
He said the driver of the first truck had been identified both by one of the other accused and by DNA traces found in the cab of the truck.
Mr. Doskozil said it seemed certain that the dead included at least one family, with a son and a toddler girl. He declined to give more details and said it would take weeks or months before victims might be conclusively identified.
At least one man drove from Germany to offer DNA samples to see if his relatives died on the truck. Altogether, about 300 calls have been received on the hotline intended for friends and family of possible victims.
Asked whether the link between the two episodes gave him confidence that this case might go deeper into the smuggling networks that now reap billions for their bosses, Mr. Doskozil gave a measured response.
“Of course, as a policeman and an investigator, there is always the hope to probe certain criminal structures,” he said. “You succeed only in the rarest of cases.”