EU Migrant Crisis: Truck With 50 Dead Refugees Found In Austria

Adding to the disturbing refugee crisis that the European Union is facing, Austrian police found as many 50 people dead in a truck near the Hungarian border on Thursday.

Reuters quoted police officials saying that the refrigerated truck was found parked on a motorway along the Hungarian border. Police was called after putrid liquid was seen oozing out from the lorry. Up on inspection, officials said that at least 20 people and as many as 50 people, all refugees, appeared to have died of suffocation a day or two ago.

According to The Guardian, a record number of 107,500 crossed the EU border last month amidst a growing refugee crisis. Thursday's finding drew reactions from leaders including Angela Merkel, who said in Vienna that more needs to be done to tackle the issue of migration.

Police have moved the truck to a nearby hall where a body count and investigations to discern identities is underway. Meanwhile, it was learnt the vehicle originally belonged to a Slovak chicken meat company Hyza which sold it in 2014. The vehicle is registered to a Romanian citizen, the Hungarian government informed.

In related news, Reuters reported that a boat with several hundred people sank off the coast of Libya on Thursday. Only about 100 illegal migrants survived. Most people onboard were from Africa, Pakistan, Syria, Morocco and Bangladesh.