Bulgaria finds 18 migrants dead in truck

(ANSA-AFP) - LOKORSKO, FEB 18 - Bulgarian authorities said Friday they had found 18 migrants dead in an abandoned truck, as the Balkan nation struggles with an increase in illicit border crossings. The vehicle "was illegally transporting around 40 migrants hidden under some wood", the interior ministry said.

"Eighteen of them have died." It is believed to be one of the deadliest people smuggling incidents recorded in the country.

After locals alerted the police, they found the truck was located near the village of Lokorsko, 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Bulgaria's capital Sofia. The cause of the migrants' deaths has not been established. "I can't say for sure what happened. There was a lack of oxygen, they were cold and wet, and they certainly had not eaten for a few days," Health Minister Asen Medjidiev told journalists. (ANSA-AFP).

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