Bulgaria, August 29: Hungarian police have arrested the driver of a lorry found on an Austrian motorway with the decomposing bodies of 71 people, including a baby girl, inside.
The victims appeared to have been mostly Syrians fleeing war and, on the final leg of their long journey, hoping for a better life in Europe. Hans Peter Doskozil, police chief for the Austrian province of Burgenland, said one Syrian travel document had been found but it was too early to say from which countries the entire group had come.
Three Bulgarians and an Afghan were detained, Hungarian police said. One has been charged with human trafficking. About 20 witnesses have been interviewed, and houses searched, they added.
The vehicle used to belong to the Slovak chicken meat company Hyza.
The company said it sold the lorry in 2014.
Three Bulgarians and an Afghan man have been detained, police said. Detectives have also questioned almost 20 people and searched homes, they added. Earlier Austrian police said the lorry owner was a Bulgarian citizen of Lebanese origin.