EUROPE-MIGRANTS/AUSTRIA POLICE Austrian police: 71 refugees dead in truck including Syrians, children; 3 people arrested in Hungary

Record ID: 142171

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/AUSTRIA POLICE Austrian police: 71 refugees dead in truck including Syrians, children; 3 people arrested in Hungary
  • Date: 28th August 2015
  • Summary: EISENSTADT, AUSTRIA (AUGUST 28, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** BURGENLAND POLICE CHIEF, HANS PETER DOSKOZIL AND AUSTRIAN INTERIOR MINISTER, JOHANNA MIKL-LEITNER ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) BURGENLAND POLICE CHIEF, HANS PETER DOSKOZIL, SAYING: "Today we must inform you that 71 people died in this tragic accident. Among them were 59 men, 8 women and 4 children including a two-year-old girl and three boys aged between eight and nine." TRUCK IN WHICH BODIES WERE FOUND (SOUNDBITE) (German) BURGENLAND POLICE CHIEF, HANS PETER DOSKOZIL, SAYING: "In the course of the first examination we recovered a Syrian travel document so we believe the victims could be a group of Syrian refugees. We are able to rule out that the victims were refugees from Africa." POLICE AND MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (German) BURGENLAND POLICE CHIEF, HANS PETER DOSKOZIL, SAYING: "I can also inform you that three people are currently in custody in Hungary and we expect that this will lead us to the perpetrators. We believe one of the perpetrators to be a Bulgarian citizen with a Lebanese background, who is the owner of the vehicle." FORENSIC OVERALLS AND BOOTS
  • Embargoed: 12th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Austria
  • Country: Austria
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADIJ2V3C4NC7ZX29E26JU82XPO
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Austrian police said on Friday (August 28) that 71 refugees including children, who had probably come from Syria, died in the back of a refrigerated truck abandoned on an Austrian highway.
    "Among them were 59 men, 8 women and 4 children including a two-year-old girl and three boys aged between eight and nine," Burgenland police chief Hans Peter Doskozil told a news conference in Eisenstadt.
    Authorities found a "Syrian travel document" in the truck among the decomposing bodies, Doskozil said, adding he believed that three people arrested in Hungary would lead to the people behind the deaths in the lorry.
    "I can also inform you that three people are currently in custody in Hungary and we expect that this will lead us to the perpetrators. We believe one of the perpetrators to be a Bulgarian citizen with a Lebanese background, who is the owner of the vehicle," he said.
    Police made the grisly discovery in the 7.5-tonne truck stopped on the A4 motorway near the town of Parndorf on Thursday (August 27).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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