Eighteen corpses of refugees who died of asphyxiation in a truck were found on Friday in Bulgaria, a Balkan country confronted in recent months with an influx of illegal immigrants. According to the observations of the investigators, the migrants perished ten to twelve hours before their bodies were found, the smugglers having 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 tragedy of immigration, the deadliest in Bulgaria. The head of the smuggling ring is 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 of the presence of this abandoned vehicle near the village of Lokorsko, about twenty kilometers from Sofia, the capital. Once at the scene, investigators discovered a gruesome scene with bodies strewn on the grass around the truck.
According to the first elements, it was illegally transporting 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 that Bulgaria has ever known, he said.
Refugees from Afghanistan
A priori originating from Afghanistan, they entered Bulgarian territory a few days ago after crossing “using a ladder” the fence erected on the border with Turkey. Conflicting information circulated about their age. Among the 18 people who died, “is a child between the ages of six and seven”, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health, but Mr Sarafov said the youngest was a teenager. Thirty-four migrants have been hospitalized and are currently refusing to speak.
“They lacked oxygen, were cold and soaked, they certainly hadn’t eaten for several days,” said Health Minister Assen Medjediev. “There is no doubt that we will find those who caused the death of 18 innocent people,” promised Borislav Sarafov, announcing the arrest of four suspects of Bulgarian nationality.
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 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 pleading for such a solution.
