After the death of 18 migrants in a truck in Bulgaria, the police arrested seven suspects. The suspected leader of the smuggling ring was among those arrested, a government official said in Sofia on Saturday. The bodies of 18 Afghans who wanted to get to Western Europe via Turkey were discovered next to the truck parked outside the capital Sofia on Friday. A total of 52 people were in the truck, 34 survivors were taken to the hospital.
According to initial findings, the victims had suffocated. Local residents discovered the truck in a village about 20 kilometers from Sofia and alerted the police.
According to the hospital, several of the survivors suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning because they had inhaled exhaust fumes in the poorly insulated truck. The people got little oxygen and were severely dehydrated, said the emergency doctor Spas Spaskow the television station Nova. In addition, they had not eaten for days.
According to the government, a total of seven suspects were arrested by Saturday. The alleged leader of the smuggling ring has already been convicted of people smuggling.
The EU member country Bulgaria borders Turkey in the south. Recently, the number of people who want to cross the border into the EU has increased. Bulgaria has therefore stepped up controls along the 234-kilometer barbed wire fence that covers almost the entire border with Turkey.
According to the Bulgarian Interior Ministry, the border police prevented 164,000 attempts at “irregular border crossings” last year. In 2021, the number was 55,000. The Bulgarian government plans stricter laws against people smuggling. So far, people smugglers have usually only been sentenced to a fine or suspended sentences.
