50 people found dead on the back of a food delivery truck along the border of Austria Thursday morning. The body count still wasn't confirmed, but the estimated count ranges from 20-50 bodies, in the state of advanced decomposition and have not yet been identified. The suspicions are that these people were illegal migrants that were trying to cross the border to the European Union via Austria to seek better opportunities away from their own countries.
At a news conference in Vienna, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany expressed her grief, "We are all shaken by this terrible news that up to 50 people has lost their lives because they got into a situation where smugglers did not care about their lives, such a tragic death." She also related that this incident has been the biggest wave of migrants since the World War II.
This incident has reflected on the bigger issue that the European Union is currently facing. The sudden and continuous flow of migrants to the wealthier European countries such as Germany, by the Central Mediterranean route. The discovery concluded that the migrants and illegal smugglers are not only taking the sea route but also on the borders of the countries.
Just this year an estimation of 2,300 consisting of men, women and children drowned in the Mediterranean after the unstable boat capsized. This is only a number from the hundreds of thousands of migrants who fell victims to illegal human smugglers for money, some even snuck themselves in private vehicles and trucks and trains from Hungary. These smugglers could face 2 years of prison time for the first offense and 5 years for the repeat offenders. But these consequences don't seem to work their way against the crisis.
In the light of these discoveries, Gauri van Gulik, deputy director of Amnesty International for Europe, said that "People dying in their dozens -- whether crammed into a truck or a ship -- en route seeking safety or better lives is a tragic indictment of Europe's failures to provide alternative routes. What's urgently needed is what Amnesty International has been saying for years, that "Europe has to step up and provide protection to more; share responsibility better and show solidarity to other countries and to those most in need."
