30 Syrians were crammed into a van for more than eight hours. It was airtight. A 19-year-old’s tugboat claims two lives.
Public prosecutor Patricia Lendzian holds up an A3 box in the Eisenstadt court. That was the space where a refugee had to participate in the van. There were 30 of them, the cargo area was only 2 meters wide, 2.5 meters long and 1.40 meters high! They couldn’t get up or sit on the floor. There was no fresh air in the hold. “They invited us there like animals. As if we are not people,” describes one refugee. The circumstances are reminiscent of the tragedy at Parndorf. In 2015, 71 people suffocated in a truck. The drama repeated itself: 2 Syrians died in October 2021.
The 19-year-old driver from Latvia is accused. He collected the 30 refugees from a patch of forest on the Serbian-Hungarian border. It was his first ride. Despite resistance, the smugglers forced all the men into the much too small car. Without food or water and in an airtight van they drove to Austria.
Little air after 3 hours
After three hours, the air ran out. “We knocked, screamed and tried to open the door,” said one Syrian. Finally, the fugitives managed to break open the double doors. But fearing that someone would fall out or that the Hungarian police would discover them, they kept closing them.
Two men standing in the center of the vehicle were unable to breathe. The report found that they are still suffocating in Hungary. “People are dying! Stop!” cried the refugees desperately, even in English.
Cynical comparison of the defense
Despite calls for help, the 19-year-old driver says he failed to notice the inhumane conditions: “He did not know there was an imminent danger to life,” his defense said. He claims not to have been present when the refugees were invited. He expected a maximum of 17 people and a much shorter travel time: “He also had no water or food with him. He was also terribly hungry,” was the cynical attempt by the defense to refute the murder charge. The suspect pleads guilty to smuggling but not murder.
The verdict is excellent. The cause (see box of facts) is being negotiated in Eisenstadt because Austria was in charge of the investigations in this case.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
