Bulgaria: Migrants die of suffocation inside truck packed with wooden planks

Sofia: After as many as 18 migrants suffocated to death inside a truck’s covert wooden compartment, the prosecutors in Bulgaria charged six people. As per reports, 52 migrants were concealed under wooden planks that held lumber that the vehicle was transporting. According to Hristo Krastev, a spokeswoman for the Sofia Public Prosecutor’s Office, six Bulgarians, including the accused mastermind of the smuggling gang, have been charged in the case. If found guilty on the counts of involuntary manslaughter, involvement in organised crime, and people smuggling, they could spend up to 15 years in jail. Two other suspects who had been detained are not anticipated to face charges, while one suspect is still at large and was indicted in absentia. According to investigators, the truck’s drivers heard loud noises and knocks coming from the back but didn’t stop until they saw the dead victims before running away, according to deputy attorney general Borislav Sarafov. “The passengers were packed close together like tin cans, curled up against one another…” They endured a terrible, 30- to 60-minute slow death. It is a remarkable human tragedy, Sarafov told the media. 34 individuals were saved, although some of them are still being treated in hospitals for carbon monoxide poisoning brought on by breathing exhaust pipe gases. According to Sarafov, the victims, who range in age from 13 to 35, paid the smugglers up to €7,000 each. “The smugglers brought 52 individuals because they were greedy,” he claimed. At least twice a month, they had previously carried 25 to 35 people at a time. He stated that the concealing areas were wrapped with aluminium foil to prevent thermal cameras from detecting the migrants’ presence. Most of the survivors, according to Bulgaria’s Health Minister Assen Medzhidiev, are in critical condition. They haven’t eaten for days, and it’s evident from their wet clothes and frigid conditions that they haven’t had any oxygen. The driver of the vehicle discovered it abandoned next to a highway not far from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The occupants were found by the police hidden beneath the lumber the van was transporting. The migrants’ nationalities were not disclosed by the authorities, but according to Bulgarian media, they were all from Afghanistan. Bulgaria, a 7 million-person Balkan nation, is a key stop on a significant migration route from the Middle East and Afghanistan to Europe. Few migrants intend to stay in the most underdeveloped member of the EU; instead, the majority use Bulgaria as a route to other parts of the continent. Bulgaria’s government has erected a barbed-wire barrier along its 161-mile border with Turkey to deter unauthorised entry into the nation. Nonetheless, with the aid of people smugglers, many migrants who are escaping poverty or conflict in their native countries are able to enter Bulgaria. The Balkan country has also been the target of growing allegations of abuses by security personnel attempting to bar entry. Asylum seekers claim they have been forced back, imprisoned, stripped, and physically assaulted. The claims have been refuted by Bulgaria. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.