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Another refugee truck intercepted in Austria

This August 27, 2015 photo shows a convoy of police vehicles following a refrigerated truck being towed along a highway near Neusiedl am See, Austria. (Photo by AFP)

Austrian police say they have intercepted a truck that was illegally carrying refugees days after a similar vehicle was found abandoned with 71 people dead inside.

A police statement on Saturday said that the truck, which was carrying 26 refugees, was stopped a day earlier near Braunau am Inn in western Austria close to the border with Germany.

It said three young children had to be hospitalized while the rest of the “illegal foreigners” from Syria, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were in stable condition. “The three small children had to be hospitalized... because of the extremely bad state of their health. Doctors said they were treated for severe dehydration,” read the statement.

Other officials hailed the interception – which came after a chase – as a major achievement, saying if the truck had continued its journey, the situation could probably have become critical.

The development came two days after police found on a motorway in eastern Austria an abandoned truck that contained 71 decomposing bodies of refugees. The incident triggered huge reactions across Europe, with many European leaders calling it a huge shock amid a growing refugee crisis threatening the entire continent.

Autopsy tests were still being carried out on Saturday, although police said the refugees, who were likely from Syria, suffocated from a lack of air and had been dead for two days before the truck was spotted on a parking strip.

Most of the refugees entering Austria come from neighboring Hungary, one of the countries bearing the brunt of an unprecedented surge in the number of refugees who flee conflicts in Africa, Asia and the Middle East in the hope of reaching wealthy states in Europe.


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