38 asylum seekers found in refrigerated truck in Austria
Austrian police found 38 refugees in a refrigerated truck near Vienna. The smuggler had taken between six and eight thousand euros from each of them. The refugees were extremely afraid that they might suffocate. Some were given first aid.
Austrian police arrested a 51-year-old Turkish man on suspicion of human trafficking in the town of Bruck an der Lait on Wednesday evening (September 9). He is accused of transporting 38 asylum seekers in a refrigerated truck. The smuggler received between six and eight thousand euros from each of them. They told police that they were terrified of dying from suffocation.
The police in the area were informed that a large number of people had gotten out of a truck on the road leading to the town of Bruck an der Laita and were running around. Following this information, the police went into action with a helicopter and found 38 people in the area. These people are from Syria, Iraq and Turkey. The police temporarily detained these people. Some of them were in a bad physical condition and the police called in the help of rescue forces to deal with them.
There was no way for air to get in.
Police have discovered that there was no ventilation in the part of the truck where the people were. The truck's cargo documents were forged and the vehicle's odometer had been tampered with. The refugees said they had tried to get from Turkey to Romania via various routes.
In Romania, they were housed in a dilapidated house for a long time with another group. There were 150 people in total. Then they continued their journey through a forested area on the Romanian border.
Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer has said that human trafficking and illegal immigration must be tackled seriously, and that all Western Balkan countries must cooperate in this regard. According to Austrian police officials, illegal immigration is on the rise. Police investigations are focused on finding human trafficking gangs. They have said that they expect the number of traffickers and victims to increase.
Source: DW
