Bulgarian law enforcement discovered an abandoned truck containing the bodies of 18 migrants on Friday morning. The bodies in the truck appear to have been suffocated to death.
Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry reported that the truck was carrying about 40 migrants, according to initial information. The survivors found in the truck were immediately taken to nearby hospitals for emergency care.
Bulgarian police find 18 Afghan migrants, including a child, dead in abandoned truck – Reuters UK
How many dead will be enough to satisfy those who say “They can’t come here” shrug? https://t.co/c6i2yCzehX
— Fionna O'Leary, 🕯🇪🇺 (@fascinatorfun) February 17, 2023
Assen Medzhidiev, the Bulgarian Health Minister, claims most of the survivors were in poor condition.
“They have suffered from lack of oxygen, their clothes are wet, they are freezing, and obviously haven’t eaten for days,” Medzhidiev said.
The truck was found abandoned near the capital, Sofia. The driver was not found. However, law enforcement officials discovered the helpless passengers in a secret compartment below a load of timber.
Authorities did not immediately release the nationalities of the migrants, but local Bulgarian media have apparently reported that they are from Afghanistan.
Bulgaria is known as a Balkan country of 7 million and the poorest member of the European Union. It is located on a major route for migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan seeking to enter Europe through Turkey. Migrants who do come through Bulgaria rarely stay. Most migrants use the country as a transit corridor on their way westward.
📌In Bulgaria, 18 migrants were found dead in a truck.
In the Bulgarian capital Sofia, 18 refugees were found dead in an abandoned truck with Bulgarian license plates. It was stated that the refugees died from freezing or drowning. #Bulgarian #Mülteci #Antireport #Refugees pic.twitter.com/sEu34ZxEpj
— Partizan Yunanistan (@partizanGreece1) February 17, 2023
Bulgaria has taken steps to protect its sovereignty by erecting a barbed-wire fence along its 161-mile border with Turkey. Unfortunately, due to. the help of human traffickers many migrants still manage to enter.
Human trafficking has left many dead or harmed in the process of the smuggling trade. In Britain, police found the bodies of 39 people inside a refrigerated container. British police said all the victims, who ranged in age from 15 to 44, came from impoverished villages in Vietnam. As in most of these incidents, it is believed they had paid smugglers to take them on the risky journey to better lives abroad.
It was reported that the Vietnamese migrants died of a combination of lack of oxygen and overheating in the enclosed space.
