Facing
an influx of migrants and refugees from war-torn Syria and Iraq,
Germany is instituting temporary border controls, German Interior
Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Sunday.
"The
focus will initially lie on the border with Austria," de Maiziere said.
"The goal of this measure is to restrict the present inflow of migrants
into Germany and return again to an orderly process upon entry."
Germany
is stopping train traffic to and from Austria for 13 hours, the
Austrian Federal Railways said in a tweet. The moratorium on train
travel between the two countries will last from 5 p.m. Sunday (noon ET
Sunday) until 6 a.m. Monday, the railway agency said.
The
announcement of measures by Germany came hours after more than 40
migrants were discovered alive inside a refrigerated truck in northwest
Austria, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the German border.
The
rescue of those migrants may have prevented a deadly fate if something
had gone awry on their covert trip, but others were not so lucky.
Nearly
30 people -- almost half of them children -- were found dead off the
coast of the Greek island of Farmakonisi on Sunday, the Hellenic coast
guard said.
At least 125
people were aboard a wooden boat that capsized in the Aegean Sea, coast
guard duty officer George Tsapras said. The coast guard rescued 68
people, 29 others swam to shore, and another 28 died.
Search and rescue efforts were ongoing, Tsapras said.
It
is unclear if those on the boat were refugees or migrants, as their
nationalities and points of origin have not yet been identified, Tsapras
said.
Europe struggles for a solution
European leaders have been struggling to cope with the massive influx of people pouring across its borders in recent weeks.
Last week, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker set out proposals
for mandatory quotas for EU countries to take in 120,000 refugees who
were already in Italy, Greece and Hungary, on top of plans made in May
to relocate 40,000 from Italy and Greece.
EU
member states must still agree to the European Commission's proposals,
which are backed by Germany. Their interior ministers are due to meet
Monday in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the issue.
As
many as 10,000 migrants are arriving in Germany per day, according to
German Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate. Officials throughout
the country have been asked to assist with registration and
accommodation needs, he said Saturday.
The German interior minister said the border controls are for "security reasons urgently necessary."
Rescued from a flower truck
A total of 42 people were inside the refrigerated truck found in Austria, police spokesman Bernd Innerdorfer said.
Police
discovered the truck, belonging to a Finnish flower transporter, at a
gas station in the city of Aistersheim. It was being driven by two Iraqi
nationals, who were arrested and charged with human smuggling.
Five
women and eight children were among those rescued. All of them were in
good health, did not require any medical attention and were transported
to a refugee detention center in the city of Linz, Innerdorfer said.
The migrants are believed to be Syrian and Iraqi, police said, but their identities were not immediately confirmed.
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