17 Migrants Found Crammed In Airless Truck Near Hungary’s Southern Border

Hungarian police found 17 migrants – 16 from Egypt and one from Libya – crammed into a closed space with no appropriate ventilation when they stopped a truck with Turkish license plates on Thursday near the village of Kistelek in the Southern Great Plain region.

The migrants required immediate medical attention, police said on their website, adding only quick action after receiving a tip-off from authorities in Romania had saved their lives. The human smuggler, believed to be a Turkish national, was detained, they further mentioned.

A number of people escaping from poverty and deadly conflicts in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East make the overland journey across the Balkans into Europe. In February, bodies of 18 dead Afghan migrants were found in an abandoned truck near the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

At least four people have been arrested in connection with the case, while one of them had already been sentenced for human trafficking, a senior Bulgarian police official informed.

Bulgaria is situated on a popular route used by migrants from Afghanistan and the Middle East to enter the EU. The majority do not stay in the country but use elaborate networks of smugglers to enter richer countries in Western Europe.

Moreover, despite building a fence on its southern border with Serbia and introducing heavy guarding, the route via Hungary to Western Europe is still quite popular among migrants.

Quoting a spokesperson at the Austrian interior ministry, a Reuters report from February last year said the number of illegal migrants intercepted in Austria doubled to roughly 40,000 in 2021, compared to 21,641 the year before, with the majority of them entering via Hungary.