WALDKRAIBURG: Seven people including a child were killed and several others injured early on Friday after a minibus believed to be packed with migrants crashed trying to evade a German road check.

Police said a Mercedes Vito minibus with Austrian license plates and 23 people cramped inside tried to avoid the check some 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the border between Austria and Germany as it drove toward Munich.

After accelerating to a speed of up to 180 kilometres per hour, the 24-year-old driver lost control of the vehicle built to carry just nine people, leading it to flip over several times before landing on its side.

Prosecutors said they believe a “people smuggler” was at the wheel and have opened a criminal investigation into the crash in the Bavaria region on suspicion of homicide.

“A six-year-old child was among the dead,” police spokesman Stefan Sonntag said but could not comment on the victim’s sex or nationality.

“The driver and suspected people smuggler survived and is among those injured.” Sonntag said preliminary information indicated that the passengers in the vehicle were Syrian and Turkish nationals, with the driver described as “stateless” and a resident of Austria.

Some of the 16 people injured were in a serious condition and being treated in local hospitals, with other children believed among the victims.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who has launched a drive against illegal immigration in response to a surge in new arrivals, said she was “shocked” by the deadly crash “involving suspected people smuggling”.

“This terrible event shows the cruel and inhumane way smugglers put people’s lives at risk,” she said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2023