Police in Bulgaria have reportedly discovered an abandoned truck which contained the bodies of 18 people believed to be migrants.
According to police, they believe that the 18 people suffocated inside the cramped truck. The Interior Ministry said that initial information has indicated that the truck was carrying 40 migrants - the survivors have been taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.
The truck was discovered on a highway near the Bulgarian capital Sofia with the passengers being discovered in a secret compartment below a load of timber, however, the driver was nowhere to be found nearby. Authorities are yet to release the nationalities of the migrants - but, Bulgarian media has reported they were all from Afghanistan.
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It is currently believed this is the deadliest incident involving migrants in Bulgaria. Health Minister Asen Medzhidiev told reporters: "There has been a lack of oxygen to those who were locked in this truck. They were freezing, wet, they have not eaten for several days."
In 2015, three Bulgarian truck drivers were arrested and later charged in relation to the deaths of 71 migrants found dead next to an Austrian highway.
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