Alarm at the border – lack of oxygen: 27 refugees freed from trucks

Such events immediately bring back memories of the Parndorf drama in 2015 – when 71 refugees were found dead in a truck. Police attention at the border crossing in Andau may have prevented another tragedy.

When a truck was stopped during the check on Friday, officials heard noises from the locked cargo area. Moments later, panicked screams, loud knocks, and cries for help. When the structure opened, agents discovered 27 refugees, including two children, who were from Egypt, Afghanistan and India.

Two men collapsed
Due to the lack of oxygen and the cramped conditions, the people were already in bad shape, two men collapsed. The refugees’ clothes were completely soaked from the autumn weather.

After the medical emergency, a man had to be taken to Kittsee Hospital for further clarification. Some rubbish had already accumulated on the loading floor itself.

All refugees applied for asylum. The driver of the truck, a Syrian with a German residence permit, has been arrested.

Flow of refugees does not stop
But these were far from the only attacks in recent days. At the A3/S31 junction, the police saw a taxi van with a Lower Austrian number, in which only men were seated. At the Müllendorf exit, the officials finally managed to stop the vehicle. Six men who came from Egypt and applied for asylum were found in the car. The handcuffs clicked for the driver and suspected smuggler.

On Saturday in the early morning hours, another operation took place for the management in the center of Burgenland: 45 refugees were arrested in Deutschkreutz.