As many as 50 refugees were found dead in a parked lorry in Austria yesterday, and another migrant ship sank off Libya, deepening a crisis that is overwhelming Europe and throwing up new tragedies by the day.

The abandoned refrigerated lorry was found by an Austrian motorway patrol near the Hungarian border, with fluids from the decomposing bodies seeping from its back door.

“One can maybe assume that the deaths occurred one-and-a-half to two days ago,” Hans Peter Doskozil, police chief in the province of Burgenland, told a news conference, adding that “many things” indicated they were already dead when they crossed the border.

Police said it could take until today to count the exact number of victims, which they thought would be more than 20 and could be as many as 50. They suspected those responsible were already out of the country.

Blood was dripping out of the vehicle and there was a smell of dead bodies

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a summit on the West Balkans in Vienna: “We are of course all shaken by the appalling news. This reminds us that we must tackle quickly the issue of immigration and in a European spirit – that means in a spirit of solidarity – and find solutions.”

Investigations were launched in Austria and Hungary after the bodies in the lorry were discovered. The truck had Hungarian number plates, a Hungarian official said.

Helmut Marban, press officer for Burgenland police, said a highway patrol had spotted the lorry and at first thought it was damaged or had been in an accident.

“When they checked they found it had no driver and blood was dripping out of the vehicle and there was a smell of dead bodies,” he said. Janos Lazar, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, said a Romanian citizen had registered the number plate in the eastern Hungarian town of Kecskemet.

Forensic police officers inspect a parked truck (centre left) in which up to 50 migrants were found dead, on a motorway near Parndorf, Austria yesterday. Photo: ReutersForensic police officers inspect a parked truck (centre left) in which up to 50 migrants were found dead, on a motorway near Parndorf, Austria yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Police limited motorway traffic to one lane while forensic experts checked over the lorry parked on the hard shoulder.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann told the summit in Vienna: “The refugees who died today wanted to save their own lives by fleeing, but instead lost their lives at the hands of traffickers.”

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she hoped the tragedy would push member states to “take decisions and responsibility”. European Commissioner Johannes Hahn reiterated that Brussels would propose within weeks a fresh look at the situation, with a view to sharing responsibility between countries.

“We will have another go at quotas. I hope that in the light of the most recent developments now there is a readiness among all the 28 member states to agree on this,” he said.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic put the onus on EU countries to find a better way to handle the influx of refugees.

“So you have a problem but you are asking us, Serbia, to come up with the action plan for migrants. You should come up with an action plan first.”

Meanwhile a security official in the Libyan city of Zuwara said several hundred people had been on board a boat that sank off the coast yesterday. Some appeared to have been trapped in the hold when it capsized.

“Some 100 illegal migrants have survived,” the official said, adding that rescue operations were continuing. Those on board had been from sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan, Syria, Morocco and Bangladesh, he added.

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