'Terrible smell of death' and dripping blood led police to bodies of FIFTY migrants who suffocated

A people smuggling gang abandoned up to 50 dead refugees at the side of an Austrian motorway after they suffocated in the back of an air-tight refrigerated truck that usually carried frozen chicken. 

The victims were found on a motorway near the town of Parndorf in eastern Austria.

The bodies were abandoned in the back of an Hungarian-registered truck. Hungarian authorities confirmed they believe that the driver was Romanian. 

Police spokesman Helmut Marban said police stopped shortly before noon today thinking that the parked truck had some mechanical trouble. Then they "saw blood dripping" from the vehicle and "noticed the smell of dead bodies," he said.

He said the truck, which had Hungarian licence plates but writing in Slovak, was abandoned by the people smuggling gang on Wednesday.

Channel 4 news reporter Lindsey Hislum who is in the area described the scene on Twitter: 'Just drove past truck on A4 in Austria with 50 dead refugees inside. Terrible smell of death as we passed.'

Police ordered reporters at the scene 25 miles south east of Vienna to move away from the vehicle, a white refrigeration truck with pictures of chicken on it. The truck, with all the bodies still inside, was later taken away to a secure location so forensic experts could examine it more thoroughly.

even the exact number of dead migrants difficult, and police opted to start that work once the truck was towed from the highway.

A full investigation into the tragedy has been launched, with Austrian police being joined by their colleagues in Hungary.

The Romanian driver is believed to have abandoned the victims after he opened the back door of the truck and discovered the bodies.  

The truck is believed to have travelled from Serbia, through Hungary and into Austria when it was abandoned. 

It is thought the victims suffocated in the back of the air-tight refrigerated truck which normally carried frozen chickens. Some of the bodies are badly decomposed, the others less so, but their state indicates that they may have died before the vehicle entered Austria, the police chief said.