Eighteen bodies of refugees who suffocated in a truck were found on Friday in Bulgaria, a Balkan country that has faced an influx of illegal immigrants in recent months. According to investigators’ observations, the migrants died ten to twelve hours before their bodies were found, and the smugglers then fled. Seven people have been arrested in Bulgaria, an Interior Ministry official said on Saturday.
“I can confirm that seven people have been arrested,” the official told AFP the day after this immigration tragedy, the deadliest in Bulgaria. The head of the smuggling ring was among the suspects, another government official said. He had previously been sentenced to a five-month suspended prison sentence for human trafficking.
Macabre scene 20 km from Sofia
The police were informed by a villager about the presence of this abandoned vehicle near the village of Lokorsko, about twenty kilometers from the capital Sofia. At the scene, investigators discovered a gruesome scene with bodies strewn on the grass around the truck.
According to the first elements, it illegally transported 52 people hidden under wooden planks. “They died of asphyxiation – too many people were crammed into too small a space,” Deputy Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov told AFP. This is the deadliest immigration tragedy Bulgaria has ever seen, he said.
refugees from Afghanistan
Arriving a priori from Afghanistan, a few days ago they entered Bulgarian territory after crossing the fence on the border with Turkey “with a ladder”. Conflicting information circulated about her age. Among the 18 dead was “a child between the ages of six and seven,” according to a Health Ministry statement, but Mr Sarafov said the youngest was a teenager. 34 migrants have been hospitalized and are currently refusing to speak.
“They had no oxygen, were cold and soaked, they certainly hadn’t eaten for several days,” Health Minister Assen Medjediev said. “There is no doubt that we will find those who caused the deaths of 18 innocent people,” Borislav Sarafov promised when he announced the arrest of four suspects with Bulgarian nationality.
As a gateway to the European Union (EU), Bulgaria has seen a surge in illegal immigration into its territory over the past year, despite a 234km barbed wire fence along the border with Turkey. This poor Balkan country has asked the EU for two billion euros to modernize and strengthen the current fence, and several member states are calling for such a solution.