Czech Internet users celebrate the deaths of migrant children in Turkey
Turkey’s state wire service Anadolu reported the deaths of at least 22 migrants, including children, during a traffic accident in the west of the country on Sunday, 14 October. According to photographs taken at the accident scene, a truck which was apparently transporting the migrants broke through traffic barriers and dropped from the highway into an irrigation canal below.
The vehicle had been traveling from the city of Aydin to Izmir port when it crashed early in the morning, and Turkish media did not immediately provide details about the nationality of the victims or the aim of their journey. According to Anadolu’s initial coverage, in addition to 19 deaths, another 11 persons suffered injuries as a result of the crash.
Photographs published on the Daily Sabah news server show the absolutely destroyed, overturned vehicle lying in the canal. Emergency rescue workers responded to the accident scene, doing their best to remove the bodies of the dead and injured from the wreckage, according to Reuters.
In recent years Turkey has become one of the main transit states through which migrants heading for the European Union travel. During 2015, one million asylum-seekers arrived in neighboring Greece from Turkey, leading to negotiations between Ankara and the EU in an effort by Brussels to put the brakes on the influx.
After agreement was reached between them, traffic on that migration route was significantly reduced. This year, nevertheless, almost 25 000 migrants have crossed into Greece from Turkey, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports, and 118 people have died during their journeys.
Asylum-seekers frequently sail from the coast of Turkey to nearby Greek islands, while many have also entered Greece by fording the Evros River in northern Turkey, which also borders Greece. According to Greek Police, that was the case of the 10 migrants who died on Saturday, 13 October, along with a person suspected of smuggling them, as a result of another traffic accident on the road to Thessaloniki.
Readers of Czech news server Novinky.cz celebrate children’s deaths
Some readers of news server Novinky.cz’s online coverage of the accident in western Turkey posted reactions to the news of the children’s deaths that were absolutely astoundingly cruel. An Internet user posting with the name of Daniel Kittlitz from Ústí nad Orlicí, Czech Republic wrote this message: “Recently it’s not been so bad, a boat sank not long ago, now this truck. Are better times on the horizon?” – a comment which was “liked” by 20 other people.
An Internet user posting with the name of Roman Herich of Kladno, Czech Republic wrote “Shooting allowed…” as his comment on the news. Others reading these comments were outraged by their heartlessness.
“Quite a bunch of people here today. I don’t comprehend how anybody can celebrate the deaths of those fleeing war,” posted an Internet user with the name of Jiří Procházka from Velké Meziříčí, Czech Republic.
