- Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/AUSTRIA-UN UN shocked at migrant deaths on Austrian highway
- Date: 28th August 2015
- Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (AUGUST 28, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF NEWS BRIEFING ONGOING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNHCR SPOKESPERSON, MELISSA FLEMING, SAYING: "We are really deeply shocked, we are deeply saddened at the grim discovery yesterday of the bodies of up to 70 people inside a truck abandoned near the Austrian border with Hungary. I have to say, yesterday they were talking about 20 bodies, waking up to the news this morning that there were 70 bodies. I don't know if you saw the pictures of that truck? But if you could just imagine how they were packed into this truck." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) IOM SPOKESPERSON, JOEL MILLMAN SAYING: "In the absence of a managed migration strategy, the deaths, reportedly, of dozens of victims who suffocated in the back of a truck in Austria this week, remind all of us of the consequences of leaving those seeking safety and a better life at the mercy of human smugglers." JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) IOM SPOKESPERSON, JOEL MILLMAN SAYING: "Just as we have seen on the Mediterranean for these last three years, just as we have heard of similar tragedies suffered in the searing Sahara heat, the spectre of death now haunts the European continent, unless something is done, and soon, to make all migration legal and safe." NEWS BRIEFING ONGOING
- Embargoed: 12th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Switzerland
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA61I8OMPZE8P2L7RXD4CH9JTIT
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday (August 28) it was "deeply shocked" after the discovery of 71 refugees including a baby girl who were found dead in an abandoned freezer truck on a highway in Austria.
"We are really deeply shocked, we are deeply saddened at the grim discovery yesterday of the bodies of up to 70 people inside a truck abandoned near the Austrian border with Hungary. I have to say, yesterday they were talking about 20 bodies, waking up to the news this morning that there were 70 bodies. I don't know if you saw the pictures of that truck? But if you could just imagine how they were packed into this truck," said UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming.
Of the 71 dead, 59 were men, eight were women, and four were children, including a girl estimated at 1-2 years old and three boys aged roughly 8-10.
Austrian and Hungarian police differed over the number of arrests made in the case.
Austrian police said three people had been taken into custody in Hungary, including one man who is believed to be the owner of the truck and is of Bulgarian-Lebanese origin.
The other two are believed to have driven the vehicle. One was described as Bulgarian and the other had a Hungarian identity card.
Hungarian police said they had arrested four men, including three Bulgarians and an Afghan citizen, and had questioned roughly 20 people after conducting house searches.
Spokesperson for the International Organisation for Migration, Joel Millman, said the deaths were largely owed to "the absence of a managed migration strategy".
"Just as we have seen on the Mediterranean for these last three years, just as we have heard of similar tragedies suffered in the searing Sahara heat, the spectre of death now haunts the European continent, unless something is done, and soon, to make all migration legal and safe," Millman said.
Separately, a boat packed with mainly African migrants bound for Italy sank off the Libyan coast on Thursday and officials said up to 200 might have died, deepening a crisis that is overwhelming Europe and throwing up new tragedies by the day.
Even before the latest incidents, the International Organization for Migration estimated 2,373 people had died so far this year while trying to reach Europe by sea, and 3,573 in the past 12 months.
UNHCR said on Friday the number of refugees and migrants trying to get to Europe by crossing the Mediterranean has passed 300,000 this year, up from 219,000 in the whole of 2014.
About 100,000 migrants, many of them from Syria and other conflict zones in the Middle East, have taken the Balkan route into Europe this year, heading via Serbia for Hungary and Europe's Schengen zone of passport-free travel.
Most then move on to richer countries such as Austria and Germany.
The 28 member states of the European Union have not yet agreed on introducing binding quotas for the distribution of refugees. EU leaders declared this week the bloc had "failed" in the face of human agony on its frontiers. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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