The Refugee Crisis Continues
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Pakistani police found on Saturday 43 dead bodies and dozens of other people, many of them unconscious, crammed inside a shipping container on a truck from Afghanistan, an official and police said.
The truck had apparently been driven in to Pakistan by human smugglers aiming to take the people to Iran, said government official Naseem Lari.
"The truck came from Spin Boldak and was bound for Iran," Lari said, referring to an Afghan border town opposite the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan.
"We've got 43 dead confirmed and many more unconscious," he said.
The truck carrying the container had been left at a truck stop on the outskirts of the city of Quetta and police had been alerted after passers-by heard cries for help, said police official Abid Jadoon.
Jadoon said about 100 people in total were in the container and the dead had suffocated in its tightly sealed interior.
