EUROPE-MIGRANTS/AUSTRIA-BODIES MOVED UPDATE Austrian authorities transfer bodies of dead migrants to morgues

Record ID: 142157

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/AUSTRIA-BODIES MOVED UPDATE Austrian authorities transfer bodies of dead migrants to morgues
  • Date: 28th August 2015
  • Summary: NICKELSDORF, AUSTRIA (AUGUST 28, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF VANS ARRIVING AT CUSTOMS BUILDING WHERE MIGRANTS' REMAINS HAVE BEEN STORED FORENSIC SPECIALIST WALKING PAST TRUCKS PARKED MAN WHEELING CONTAINER CARRYING REMAINS TO VANS VAN MAN WHEELING ANOTHER CONTAINER VARIOUS OF VANS FORENSIC SPECIALIST WALKING PAST CONTAINER HOLDING REMAINS BEING WHEELED OUT / VAN DRIVING OFF
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Austria
  • Country: Austria
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2R8TNI6AVKSIYXLJYP6NG3DA7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Austrian authorities continued the process on Friday (August 28) of transporting the bodies of 71 migrants found dead in a truck on an Austrian highway to different morgues where forensic pathologists will seek to establish how they died.
    The corpses were wheeled out of a customs building in the village of Nickelsdorf into waiting vans before being driven away.
    Earlier a Reuters witness saw one truck carrying around 10 bodies entering a Vienna forensics centre.
    Four children, including a baby girl, were among the dead and several people have been arrested in Hungary in connection with the tragedy, Austrian police said on Friday.
    An Austrian motorway patrol discovered the abandoned truck near the Hungarian border on Thursday (August 27), probably at least 24 hours after it had been parked there.
    The migrants appeared to have been dead for up to two days and fluids from the decomposing bodies were seeping from its door.
    A Syrian travel document was found among the victims but more time is needed to determine whether people of other nationalities were on board, Hans Peter Doskozil, police chief for the province of Burgenland, told a news conference.
    The back door of the truck was not locked but secured shut with wires.
    Its refrigeration system showed no signs of having been switched on and there were no vents to allow fresh air inside, Doskozil told Reuters. The victims had been wearing light summer clothes.
    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.
    Doskozil 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.
    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.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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