site.btaUPDATED Vanloads of Illegal Migrants Found Near Sofia, Yambol

About 30 illegal migrants were found in an abandoned van bound for Sofia, BTA learnt from the Interior Ministry which was alerted of the incident around 9 a.m. on Monday.

National Television specified that the migrants were undocumented and all male. Eight of them were comatose. Police and five ambulances were rushed to the site near the Trayanovi Vrata Tunnel on the Trakia Motorway.

Eighteen of the migrants have been hospitalized at six medical-treatment facilities in Sofia and at two in Pazardzhik, BTA learnt from the Sofia Emergency Medical Service Centre.

Sofia District Prosecutor Natalia Nikolova-Boncheva told BTA said that pre-trial proceedings in connection with human trafficking have been instituted. She added that the van driver is being tracked down. The prosecutor added that the van had been locked and the police opened it when they arrived. 

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An automobile transporting illegal migrants veered from the carriageway and crashed into a tree in Pobeda village near Yambol (Southeastern Bulgaria) around 9 a.m. on Monday. Eight illegals, all male and aged around 25, said they were Syrian nationals. They were taken to the Yambol hospital, BTA learnt from the hospital's Deputy Director, Dr Valentin Valchev.

Pre-trial proceedings have been instituted, police in Yambol said.