[Breaking news update 5:28 a.m. ET]
There were 71 bodies inside the truck found abandoned on an Austrian highway and officials found a Syrian travel document inside. “We must assume now that these are refugees,” Hans Peter Doskozil, police director of Austroa’s Burgenland region, said during a news conference Friday. “In concrete terms it is possible, this is a Syrian refugee group.” Four people have been arrested, including a Bulgarian national of Lebanese origin. The victims included 60 men, 8 women and three children — ages 2, 3, and 8.
[Last update posted at 5:24 a.m.]
(CNN) — Three people are in custody after the discovery of dozens of bodies inside an abandoned truck on an Austrian highway.
The 71 bodies found included 59 men and four children, said Helmut Marban, spokeswoman for Burgenland police.
Syrian travel documents were found at the scene, and authorities said they believe it was a refugee group from that nation, acording to Marban.
Authorities made arrests in Hungary, where the white truck begun its journey, Austria’s interior ministry said.
The dead are believed to be refugees — highlighting once again the scale of the migration crisis gripping Europe.
The truck was found a day earlier, abandoned on the side of the A4 highway, which links Budapest in Hungary to the Austrian capital, Vienna.
When police opened the back of it, they found the bodies decomposing in the heat.
Initially, the Austrian government offered an estimate of between 20 and 50 bodies. The truck was taken to a refrigerated facility, where officials came up with the updated count.
The grim discovery came just a day after the Italian coast guard said 54 people lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean.
“This horrible crime shows that we must get even tougher in the battle against people smuggling,” Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said at a news conference.
“People smugglers are criminals and not well-minded helpers. They do not care about the well-being of the refugees, they care about profit.”