Motorway M1 jams due to stricter Austrian checks for migrants

Budapest, August 31 (MTI) – Tighter checks by Austrian authorities has caused 20-kilometre long traffic queues on motorway M1 towards Austria, a spokesman for the Hungarian Public Roads agency said on Monday morning.

Austrian authorities started stricter checks on Sunday morning, stopping every vehicle fit to hide passengers inside, Bence Marczin said.

Tightened security comes after the death of 71 migrants, among them four children, left in a truck on the side of a motorway in Austria last week. So far five people have been taken into custody in connection with the crime.

Hungarian police reported that 8,792 illegal entrants have been detained over the weekend and procedures were started against 36 people suspected of human smuggling. In addition, two Hungarian nationals were caught near the Hegyeshalom border with Austria who were driving taxis carrying migrants. A German woman was also trying to drive three Syrian and a Libyan citizen across the border into Austria. She was apprehended on Sunday, police said.

Photo: MTI