Pursuit with Tractor Ends in Serious Accident

A smuggler was arrested on the night of Monday after a traffic accident in Andau (district of Neusiedl am See) with a total of eleven injured. The Hungarian police had pursued the driver from Pakistan across the border, then he crashed into a building and was trapped in the car. Among the injured migrants were two girls, reported the Burgenland State Police Directorate.

Smuggler caused accident with ten refugees in Burgenland

The law enforcement officers wanted to stop the vehicle in Hungary, but the smuggler fled, lost control of the car, and crashed into an agricultural building. The vehicle contained ten refugees - men and women from Turkey and Afghanistan, and also two girls aged seven and ten. They were all injured and taken by rescue services to the AKH and the Donauspital in Vienna, as well as the hospital in Eisenstadt.

The severely injured smuggler had to be rescued from the wreck by the fire department and flown to the Wiener Neustadt hospital by rescue helicopter. He was arrested and is being monitored by the police in the hospital. Investigations are still ongoing, it was stated.

First such incident since November 2024

The incident with the smuggler vehicle was the first in Burgenland since November 2024, police spokesman Helmut Marban told the APA. In 2023, there were several similar situations, after which the breakthroughs of smuggler vehicles at the border with "police pursuit" and illegal migration in general decreased. So far this year, around 2,500 refugees and four smugglers have been apprehended in Burgenland, according to Marban.

The Ministry of the Interior also stated that the number of apprehensions in Burgenland has significantly decreased over the past two years. As part of "Operation Fox," around 40 Austrian police officers are deployed on Hungarian territory to combat smuggling before reaching the Burgenland border. However, the smugglers still receive instructions from their backers not to stop - "because the smuggled migrants are just merchandise for the criminals, which brings in a lot of money," emphasized Gerald Tatzgern, head of the Department for Smuggling, Human Trafficking, and Special Investigations at the Federal Criminal Police Office.

Warning of Burgenland as "Smuggler Hotspot"

SPÖ parliamentary group leader Roland Fürst warned in a statement that Burgenland could once again become a "smuggler hotspot." He called on Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) for "immediate measures and precautions," including an increase in police personnel in the border area and closer cooperation with Hungarian authorities.

FPÖ state parliament member Mario Jaksch spoke of a "symbol of a broken and dangerous EU policy" regarding migration and demanded the deportation of the smuggler. He suggested that asylum flows should be stopped before reaching Hungary.

"Zero tolerance towards this behavior" was also demanded by ÖVP parliamentary group leader Bernd Strobl. "Anyone who disregards our laws in such a way and participates in criminal smuggling structures crosses a red line," said Strobl, who highlighted the federal government's measures positively but also saw the red-green state government as being challenged.

(APA/Red)

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