Migrants found suffocating in a truck in Hungary, Turkish citizen in custody

The Hungarian police stopped a suspicious truck at the country's southern border. 17 migrants who were suffocating in the Turkish-licensed truck were found. It was announced that a Turkish citizen human trafficker was detained.

In a statement, the police said that they stopped the suspicious truck near the village of Kistelek on Thursday and that they had received a tip-off about the truck from Romanian authorities. It was said that 16 Egyptian migrants and one Libyan migrant were found in the enclosed section of the truck, which had no ventilation. It was announced that the migrants needed "emergency medical care" and were taken to the hospital by ambulances. The police announced that the Turkish driver of the Turkish-licensed truck was also detained on suspicion of human trafficking.

In February, the bodies of 18 Afghan migrants were found in an abandoned truck on the side of the road near Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia make their way to Europe by land through the Balkans. Despite Hungary building a fence along its southern border with Serbia, the route through Hungary remains popular for migrants heading to Western Europe.