Horrifying scenes as 18 migrants are found dead after suffocating to death inside secret compartment in abandoned lorry in Bulgaria
- The bodies of 18 migrants were discovered at an abandoned truck in Bulgaria
- The truck was carrying around 40 people, with the survivors taken to hospital
Police in Bulgaria made a horrifying discovery when they found an abandoned truck containing the bodies of 18 dead migrants who appear to have suffocated to death inside a secret compartment.
The country’s Interior Ministry said the truck appeared to have been carrying around 40 migrants, with the survivors taken to nearby hospitals for emergency treatment.
Bulgarian Health Minister Assen Medzhidiev said most of the survivors were in a serious condition.
He said: ‘They have suffered from lack of oxygen, their clothes are wet, they are freezing, and obviously haven’t eaten for days.’
The truck was found abandoned by its driver next to a highway near the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
The bodies of 18 migrants were discovered at an abandoned truck near the Bulgarian capital of Sofia
Police found the truck reported to be carrying around 40 migrants next to a highway earlier today
Police discovered the passengers in a secret compartment below the lumber the vehicle was carrying.
Authorities did not identify the nationalities of the migrants, but Bulgarian media has reported that all were from Afghanistan.
Bulgaria, a Balkan country with a population of 7 million, is part of a major route for migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan to Europe.
Only a small number of migrants plan to stay in the European Union’s poorest member, with most using Bulgaria as a corridor to the rest of the continent.
To prevent people from entering the country illegally, Bulgaria’s government has built a barbed-wire fence along its 161-mile border with Turkey.
However, many migrants fleeing poverty or conflict in their home countries are able to enter Bulgaria with the help of people smugglers.
While the deaths of Europe-bound refugees and asylum-seekers at sea are more common, the grim discovery in Bulgaria is not the first time groups of migrants have been found dead in abandoned vehicles.
In October 2019, British police found the bodies of 39 people inside a refrigerated container that had been hauled to England.
Police said all the victims, who ranged in age from 15 to 44, came from impoverished villages in Vietnam and were believed to have paid smugglers to take them on the risky journey.
The migrants were reportedly hidden in a secret compartment underneath lumber being carried by the truck
Survivors from the shocking incident were taken to hospital with many said to be in a serious condition after suffering from a lack of oxygen
Police said they died of a combination of a lack of oxygen and overheating in an enclosed space.
The truck discovered in the town of Grays, east of London, had arrived in England on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.
Another similar tragedy took place in August 2015, when 71 migrants suffocated to death in the back of a refrigerated truck found on a highway in Austria.
A court in Hungary convicted an Afghan man and three Bulgarian accomplices in 2018 of being part of a criminal organization and committing multiple crimes, including human smuggling and murder, in connection with the deaths.
Ten other defendants, mostly Bulgarians, were given prison terms ranging between three and 12 years.
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