Bulgaria: 18 migrants died of asphyxiation in a truck

The bodies of 18 migrants lie on the ground near an abandoned truck, in the village of Lokorsko, near Sofia, Bulgaria, Friday, February 17, 2023. AP - STR

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Eighteen migrants have died in Bulgaria, a Balkan country faced in recent months with an influx of illegal immigrants.

Their bodies were found in the trailer of a lorry near the capital Sofia.

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The migrants died of asphyxiation after being locked up for more than a whole day in the trailer of an abandoned truck, says our correspondent in Sofia,

 The vehicle was found in a town located about ten kilometers north of the capital Sofia.

According to the inhabitants of the village, this is not the first time that vehicles carrying migrants have been abandoned there.

Eight people were arrested by the police, including the owner of the truck.

The head of the smuggling ring is among the suspects, a government official said.

He had previously been sentenced to a five-month suspended prison sentence for human trafficking.

According to the first elements of the investigation, the truck was illegally transporting 52 people hidden under wooden planks, a priori Afghan migrants from Turkey.

Once at the scene, investigators discovered a grisly scene with bodies strewn on the grass around the truck.

Some 34 migrants were rescued and taken to hospital on Friday.

Some of them are being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after inhaling exhaust fumes, according to Spas Spaskov, an emergency doctor at Pirogov Hospital in Sofia.

More and more immigrants

This drama echoes the discovery in 2019 of the bodies of

in a refrigerated truck near London.

Austria was hit by a similar tragedy in 2019. Police found an abandoned refrigerated truck on the side of an Austrian highway in Parndorf, near the Hungarian border, with 71 men on board. , decomposing women and children.

As a gateway to the European Union (EU), Bulgaria saw an upsurge in illegal immigration to its territory last year, despite the presence of a 234 km barbed wire fence along the border

.

The number of arrested migrants has increased from 9,000 people in 2021 to 15,000 in 2022. In December 2022, the Netherlands and Austria opposed Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area

to concerns about security at the country's borders and the fight against corruption.

(and with agencies)

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