Migrant toll mounts: Up to 50 refugees found suffocated in the back of a lorry

The bodies of up to 50 refugees have been found in the back of a lorry in Austria. They suffocated while in a parked vehicle on the hard shoulder of a motorway in the east of the country. The driver was believed to have fled the scene and was being sought by police. The latest grisly discovery follows the discovery of the bodies of at least 50 migrants in a ship off the coast of Libya on Wednesday and comes as German chancellor Angela Merkel joined Western Balkan leaders for a summit on the migrant crisis in Vienna.

Today is a dark day. It demonstrates the despicable methods used by Mafia traffickers in all their ugliness

Austrian interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner

Meanwhile, record numbers of migrants are arriving in Hungary across its southern border with Serbia. Police said they detained 3,241 migrants on Wednesday, 700 more than a day earlier and the highest number so far. Many are from Syria and want to reach richer EU countries to make an asylum claim. Hungarian government spokesman Dr Zoltán Kovács, said: “Until the end of 2012 the normal yearly number was around 3,500 - 5,000 a year. That’s what you find on a weekend now.”

I don’t think it’s time for frustration, there’s a time and a request for action, swift action, action that is feasible.

Hungarian government spokesman Dr Zoltán Kovács