A cargo minibus registered in Romania rammed into the vehicle in front of it on a boulevard in Budapest on Sunday morning, and after the driver fled the scene of the accident, it was discovered that more than 20 illegal immigrants, nine among them being wounded, one of them seriously, reports the official Hungarian agency MTI.
Hungarian policePhoto: Jose Hernandez | Dreamstime.com
The minibus carrying the foreigners was traveling on Muzeului Boulevard, from Astoria towards Piaţa Kálvin, when it collided with the car in front of it under still unclear circumstances, writes MTI, quoted by News.ro. The left front of the van was damaged. In the images shown on M1 television, it can be seen that the Ford van has Romanian registration numbers, from Mehedinţi county.
Paramedics transported one person to the hospital with serious injuries and eight with minor injuries.
The driver – suspected of human trafficking – jumped out of the car after the accident and ran away.
The accident is the subject of an investigation with an unknown author.
The Hungarian police stated that 23 Syrian citizens were detained at the scene of the accident on Muzeului Boulevard.
After the collision, the police shortly arrested 12 migrants in Fővám Square, not far from the accident site. The 12 illegal immigrants could not present any proof of their identity. These 12 people were among the passengers in the van, but they left the scene before the police arrived. They were later found by the police in nearby Fővám Square. According to M1 television, several of them identified themselves as Kurds or Turks. Since they could not prove their identity, they were all taken to the police, who opened a criminal investigation for human trafficking.
The migrants – more than 20 people – were crammed into the cargo van, which had no windows or seats for passengers. That is why, in addition to the crime of human trafficking, the driver risks being accused of torture. Investigators are also looking into whether the driver may have committed other offences, such as failure to render assistance.
