Hungarian police said Sunday they have made a fifth arrest over
the deaths of 71 migrants found in an abandoned truck in Austria last week
The latest
suspect, a Bulgarian national, was taken into custody late Saturday evening in
Budapest, according to a police statement.
Three Bulgarian
citizens and an Afghan citizen had already been arrested in connection with the
truck full of people, who were likely fleeing war-ravaged
Syria. Austrian authorities suspect a Bulgarian-Hungarian smuggling ring.
Sixty of the 71
victims were men. Eight women died, as did three children, ages 2, 3 and 8.
'Scandalous'
Hungary is under increasing pressure
from Western European countries to change its approach to the migrant crisis.
France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday he is
shocked by the escalating migration crisis and accused eastern European
countries like Hungary of not respecting European values.
"Each
country needs to find a solution. France and Germany are part of these
countries. When I see some European countries that don't accept quotas of
migrants I find it scandalous. Especially East European countries," he
said on a popular Sunday morning program on Europe 1 in France.
Hungary has been
erecting a barbed wire fence along its more than 100-mile border with Serbia,
which Fabius said should be taken down.
"Hungary is
very severe. Hungary is part of Europe. Europe has some values and it doesn't
respect these values. Like this razor wire barrier they built."
EU dilemma
The European Union has been trying to
find ways to ease the migrant pressure on Italy and Greece, where most migrants
enter Europe, but many EU member countries, including Hungary, have been
reluctant to accept a voluntary quota.
The foreign
ministers of Germany, France and Britain issued a statement Friday asking a
special EU council to meet in the next two weeks to work on measures to better
organize the influx of migrants.
They're asking
for the implementation of "hot spots" in Greece and Italy by the end
of this year. These hot spots would register the number of migrants and
identify those who need protection, according to the statement.
More
migrants die crossing Mediterranean
A boat carrying migrants sank off the
coast of Libya on Saturday, killing at least seven, according to the Red
Crescent in Tripoli.
The coast guard
is recovering the bodies, according to spokesman Mohamad al-Misrati.
"We are now
receiving unconfirmed reports that there are more dead people who were on that
boat," said al-Misrati. "It could be that up to 30 people died but we
are still checking."
Officials said
that they believe the boat that sank was on its way to the Italian coast.
Pope prays
for migrants
Pope Francis appealed for prayers for
migrants during an address in St. Peter's Square on Sunday.
He called on
people to work together to prevent tragedies like the death of the 71 migrants
in the truck on the Vienna-Budapest highway, which he said "offends the
entire human family."
"For all
these brothers and sisters, I pray and ask you to pray," he said.
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