VIENNA — Police arrested several people believed to be part of a human smuggling operation in connection with the deaths of 71 migrants who likely suffocated in a refrigerated truck found abandoned on Austria's main highway, law enforcement officials said Friday.
Austrian police said three people had been arrested while their Hungarian counterparts said four were in detention. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
It was the latest tragedy in a year that has seen tens of thousands of people risking everything to seek a better life or refuge in wealthy European countries.
At least 2,500 have died, mostly at sea, where another tragedy was unfolding Friday as Libyan authorities counted bodies from two ships that capsized off the coast of that country. The U.N. refugee agency said 200 were missing and feared dead.
In Austria, officials said they are still investigating but believe the migrants suffocated in the truck. Investigators found a Syrian travel document, indicating that at least some of the dead were refugees fleeing violence in Syria, though it wasn't clear if some were from elsewhere.
The 71 included eight women and four children, the youngest a girl between 1 and 2 years old, the others boys aged 8 to 10. Authorities initially estimated the death toll at 20 to 50, but raised it after towing the truck to a refrigerated warehouse and counting the partially decomposed bodies.
At least two of those arrested are Bulgarian citizens, while the third has Hungarian identity papers, police said. One is the truck owner, a Bulgarian of Lebanese descent, while two others were apparently taking turns driving, said Hans Peter Doskozil, chief of police in Burgenland province, where the truck was found. He said police believe that the suspects were part of a larger Bulgarian-Hungarian human smuggling ring.
See Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full coverage.