BURGENLAND, Austria, Aug. 27 (UPI) — At least 20 dead bodies of migrants were found in a truck in Austria Thursday.
The truck was found on a main road close to the country’s border with Hungary, in the eastern province of Burgenland. Austrian police believe the truck has been there since Wednesday but was not found until early Thursday morning, adding that the bodies had already begun to decompose. They add that judging by the size of the truck, as many as 50 bodies could be inside.
It is not apparent how the bodies inside the truck perished.
Austria’s Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said the bodies represented a “dark day” and that her condolences go out to the families of those affected.
More than 28,300 people have sought asylum in Austria in the first half of 2015, many coming from Syria.
The news comes as tens of thousands of migrants from war-torn nations in the Middle East and Africa are attempting to migrate to the European Union. Many migrants attempt to do so by way of a “Balkan corridor.”
Additionally, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with leaders from Macedonia, Serbia and other Balkan nations in Vienna Thursday to discuss methods to handle the migrant crisis affecting Europe. Leaders of these two nations have called for an answer to the immigration problem to be developed by the entirety of the European Union.
Hungary continues to be the European Union’s main entry point for immigrants, with the daily number of people coming in reaching a new record of 3,000 on Wednesday, including 700 children. Hungarian legislators will meet next week to decide whether to use military troops to stymie the flow.
