Pakistan: 62 Migrants Suffocated To Death Inside Shipping Container

QUETTA, Pakistan — At least 62 people suffocated to death in the back of a truck packed with illegal migrants, and dozens were rescued unconscious after Pakistani police acting on a tip opened the vehicle Saturday near the Afghan border.

Rasool Bakhsh, a senior police official in the city of Quetta, said the shipping container the truck was carrying entered Pakistan from Afghanistan and was headed for Iran. He said most of the victims were Afghans.

More than 100 people were packed inside the 40-foot-long (12-meter-long) metal container, Bakhsh said. He said survivors were rushed to the hospital, many of them unconscious.

Khalid Masood, another senior officer, said a total of 62 were pronounced dead.

Television footage shot shortly after the white container was opened showed dozens of bodies, many of them stripped to the waist, lined up on the road next to the truck.

The stench from the container suggested some might have been dead for days, Bakhsh said.

Officials said they were holding the truck's driver as part of their investigation.

Southwestern Pakistan lies on a well-trodden route for traffickers smuggling young men from poverty-afflicted countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan hoping to find work and prosperity in Europe and elsewhere.

Comments

[AZM]

This planet contains 6.5 billion people. By the middle of this century it is projected to contain 9.5 billion people. Where do we put them? How many animal species will be exterminated by this burgeoning human population? What happens when, with 9.5 billion people, the planet experiences a global drought? Can't we solve this population problem in a sane and rational manner, without having to jam people into containers in order to ship them to other countries that have problems of their own?

[DiscernTruth]

In the early 70's, the world's population was less than 3 billion. In the span of less than 40 years we have managed to produce another 4 billion consuming and defecating human bodies. Sorry to be so blunt...bu­t it's a fact, and our lovely planet will not be able to support such exponential growth indefinitely. The day of reckoning is approaching.

I don't have a lot of faith in the ability of humankind to put aside personal desires (i.e. to procreate in a responsible manner), for the common good of all. We can't even get along on the most basic of issues...s­uch as religious tolerance. And at the same time science and western medicine is relentless in its pursuit of extending our lifespans! It's madness!

[jozinha]

"The shipping container the truck was carrying entered Pakistan from Afghanistan and was headed for Iran."

HUH?

Pakistan is to the east of Afghanistan and Iran is to the West. It's like saying the truck entered Utah from Nevada and was headed for California!

This is wretched journalism!!!!

[Opygollopy]

I was just thinking the same thing. Its like going from Florida to New York by way of the North Pole. I think alot of info was omitted from this piece. Were they terrorists or were they unemployed? Looks like we will never know.

It is still a horrible way to die no matter who they were. May God have mercy on their souls and families.

[RockySoldier]

cue all the religiously-tinged screeds and lectures from people who know absolutely NOTHING about what is going on there...

'oh it's so sad!'

'this is horrible! this is the fault of America!'

'religion did this!'

'women and children! think of the women and children!'

'can't we all just sit down with the taliban and talk this out?'

[LiberalBuzz]

Umm besides the sad comment I haven't seen anyone claim that sitting down and talking this out with the taliban will make things all better.

[Alvarask]

Until we change the GLOBAL system, in every conceivable way, poor people like these will continue to be the innocent victims of the major players, who are at every step profiting from misery.

[LiberalBuzz]

How would you change it?

[Diogenis]

So tragic!

[ModeratePoliticalJunkie]

This is a very sad story and I suspect it is too horrific for most to digest.

[AngieMom57]

"Southwestern Pakistan lies on a well-trodden route for traffickers smuggling young men..."

So were all the dead young men?

[SuzyQ08]

This is very very sad.

[davidwayneosedach]

Unfortunately this kind of thing happens every day.

The only fault of these people is that they are looking for a better life?

[vishix]

What a tragedy, they only want to escape the Af-Pak terrorists for a better life :(

[SamKnause]

I wish our world would wake up and realize that everybody needs to get along and stop all the wars. I wish we could all turn in to caring people, and help all who need help, and turn our world into heaven on earth, instead of thinking that heaven is in another place. All of the outlandish religions are destroying our world from the inside out. If religion is truly the answer why does it cause so much destruction?

[bellepepper02]

Hear, hear!

[bellepepper02]

Just wanted to add this: notice how few comments there are on this story? Guess it's not really important, eh?

[vishix]

All the muslim zealots don't like to face reality of what's happening in Af-Pak.

[Diogenis]

patience..­..it's Sunday in America. Some go to church.

[dogman44]

I think a lot of people just don't know what to say.

[fcsakes]

Comments are not what make a story important. Words have nothing to do with it.

[dontomas]

Just what I was thinking. The fact that so many humans lack the basic necessities to sustain life is more of a problem than our economy or the threat of terrorism. We will never progress to a more peaceful and joyful planet until we solve this problem.

[Candide]

I agree with and have the same questions as Sam.

[All in All]

Indeed!

Well said.

[princessk]

It's so horrific it's almost hard to comprehend. There's a similar incident that took place in the book "The Kite Runner," which makes me think people dying in containers while being smuggled into Pakistan is a fairly common occurence. Surely there has to be a better solution.

[dogman44]

An incredible book. If you liked it, try "A Fine Balance".

[princessk]

Thanks for the rec. I'll check into it.

[care4mypeeps]

My heart goes out to the survivors and their familes as well as the deceased families.
What an aweful thing when the quest for freedom is so strong and the grim reaper steals freedom
from so many leaving only horrid memories of freedom denied for both the living and dead.

My prayer is that we can figure this thing out and assist with the road to freedom for all Nations
so that this kind of tragedy can be a thing of the past.

[hexenpants]

Oh my god.

[bigbluenat4]

This is a very sad story...I feel very bad for all of these people.

[piul05]

So do I. I once worked as interpreter for a man from Sierra Leone - a carpenter who had survived a bitter civil war and whose family (two wives, 5 children, his parents and the in-laws) depended on him for their survival. He was a quietly bespoken man, extremely polite and appreciative of the fact that people were prepared to hear his story and try to help him out. He told me that his family had survived because they were artisans and peasants; people with any higher education had been systematically slaughtered. As the civil war progressed, he was increasingly unable to find work - so he took the little money he had left and, with his family blessing, paid some "facilitators" to get him into Spain. The description of his journey was as harrowing as it was poignant his worry and longing for his family.