Bulgaria detains 7 over deaths of 18 migrants found in truck

By VESELIN TOSHKOV
Associated Press

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Authorities in Bulgaria have detained seven people in connection with an abandoned truck in which 18 people believed to be migrants were found dead. The bodies were discovered Friday in a secret compartment below a load of lumber in the truck, which was left on a highway not far from Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia. Borislav Sarafov, director of Bulgaria’s National Investigation Service, confirmed Saturday that all the victims had died of suffocation. Bulgaria’s health minister says police also found 34 survivors in the truck, most of them in very poor physical condition. Authorities say all the passengers originally were from Afghanistan and had entered Bulgaria from Turkey while hoping to reach Western Europe.