The Hungarian police found 17 migrants crammed into a closed area without proper ventilation when stopped truck with Turkish signs near the southern border of the country.

The immigrants —16 from Egypt and one from Libya— needed immediate medical attention, police added in a statement posted on its website, adding that their lives were saved only thanks to prompt action taken following a tip-off by Hungarian authorities from Romanian authorities.

Police say they stopped the truck yesterday, Thursday, near the village of Kistelek and called ambulances for the migrants and arrested the trafficker, a Turkish national.

On February 18 Afghan migrants were found dead in an abandoned truck on a side road near the Bulgarian capital Sofia.

Thousands of people who want to escape the war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia are crossing the Balkans, wanting to reach western Europe. Hungary has built a fence on its southern border with Serbia, but the route through Hungary to western Europe remains popular for migrants.