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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Smuggler Abandons Human Cargo

Associated Press

The bodies of 18 Sri Lankans who hoped to be smuggled to Western Europe were found in a sealed trailer abandoned in a parking lot, and a police spokesman said they probably suffocated.

The 17 men and one woman were found in the trailer attached to a truck parked near Gyoer in western Hungary, on the main route between Budapest and neighboring Austria, the state news agency MTI said.

Nineteen other people - four behind the driver’s seat of the cab, and 15 in the trailer - survived the ordeal, although many were unconscious when found, police and MTI said.

Survivors told police they paid unidentified smugglers $800 for the trip, MTI said.