As many as 50 dead refugees found in truck

As many as 50 refugees died in a truck found in eastern Austria on Thursday, police said.

A police spokesman told a news conference carried on Austrian television he could not put an exact figure on the number of victims. "We can assume that it could be 20 people who died. It could also be 40, it could be 50 people," he said.

Tens of thousands of people, mainly from Africa and the Middle East, have put to sea this year in the hope of reaching Europe, often dangerously packed into small vessels that were never designed to cross the Mediterranean.