Photo Gallery Heading West
Every day, thousands of refugees entrust their lives to human smugglers as they make their way to Europe. But safety is not always the smugglers' top priority -- leading to the kind of disaster like the 71 dead migrants found in the back of a refrigerated truck in Austria in late August.
Gorank Goranova is the mother of one of the primary suspects in the disaster in Austria. Many of the smugglers working the Western Balkan route come from the poverty-stricken corner of Bulgaria where Goranova is from.
Currently, the Western Balkan route has replaced the Mediterranean crossing as the favored path to central and Northern Europe, were most of the migrants would like to end up. Here, migrants are seen crossing the border from Greece into Macedonia. From there, they will head through Serbia to Hungary and beyond.
Migrants face difficulties all along the route. Here, people are rushing to board a train near the Greece-Macedonia border after evading a police cordon.
Hungary sought to seal off its border with Serbia recently in light of the huge numbers of refugees who were streaming through on their way to northern Europe. But despite the barbed wire, the people kept coming.
Several images lately have shocked Europeans into finally taking action. One of them was this: a refrigerated truck on the side of the road in Austria. Inside, were 71 suffocated refugees who had entrusted their lives to a smuggler.
Police escort two suspects thought to have been involved with the refrigerated truck in Austria. Many smugglers are poor people from southwestern Europe looking to make easy money.
A Roma man is seen on the street where Metodi G., one of the prime suspects in the Austrian incident, grew up. Usually, though, it is the small fish who are caught: The drivers and recruiters. Very rarely is a smuggling ring broken up.
Investigators spent days going through the truck, searching for clues as to the identities of those inside. There were four children among the dead.
Hotel Mr. President, across the street from Belgrade's central station, is where smugglers and refugees often meet up for the trip north. The wealthier migrants rent a room to rest up inside.
The Istanbul working-class district of Aksaray is where many migrants first come into contact with recruiters working for smuggling rings. A minivan ride across the Turkish border into Bulgaria costs $500. The trip across the Aegean to a Greek island, such as Kos, in a rubber dinghy costs $1,000.
Police checking a van for migrants at the Austrian border crossing in Nickelsdorf. Hundreds of migrants pass through the border every day.
This photo provided to Reuters by Austrian police shows a van that was found carrying 24 teenagers from Afghanistan. The doors had been welded shut and the back doors bolted closed, meaning very little air could get in.
Members of a refugee family crammed into a car as the driver is arrested between the Serbian border and Budapest. Human smuggling has become big business in Europe, with officials saying that the profits are similar to the drug trade.
Last week, Budapest's Keleti Station became the focal point of Europe's refugee crisis as thousands of people camped out there waiting and hoping to board trains for Austria and Germany. Last Friday, many began walking to Austria before the Hungarian government gave in and provided buses.
Over the weekend, over 100 cars traveled to Budapest from Vienna to pick up refugees stranded there.
Map: The primary smuggling route through the Western Balkans.
