Migrants risking their lives to reach Europe
BUDAPEST -- ISIS's brand of terror is one reason so many migrants are fleeing the Middle East and North Africa for Europe.
The U.N. said Friday more than 300,000 have crossed the Mediterranean this year in rickety boats. Others travel by land. But not all make it.
In Austria, 71 refugees were found dead in the back of a freezer truck on a highway. They appear to have suffocated in the searing heat, investigators said.
The back door was wired shut. There were dents on the sides from people apparently trying to push their way out.
Police found travel documents suggesting at least some were refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria. Among the dead, they found a young girl, not more than 2 years old.
More than 2,000 miles away off the coast of Libya, another tragedy was unfolding. Bodies washed ashore, some of the 200 people who are feared to have drowned when two overloaded boats capsized.
At the same time, rescuers did all they could to save the lives of refugees trapped in the hold of a boat, where dozens died from breathing in exhaust fumes.
By land and by sea, they're fleeing war and poverty, risking their lives in the hope of finding a better one in Europe.
A train station in Budapest, Hungary, is overflowing.
It's where CBS News found Hazem Alkadi, a Syrian refugee traveling with 16 family members, including small children and a baby.
"There is war, war. Die everywhere, die in the street," Alkadi said.
His brother Hassan told CBS News he lost a leg to a barrel bomb, and showed the scars on 3-year-old Midhat from an airstrike.
They've heard about the Syrians that perished in the back of that truck, who left from here, just like they want to.
And yet, it is still a chance they're willing to take.
"Truck or taxi or train or bus or anything. Anything," Alkadi said.
They're stuck here now. They can't get a train ticket to Germany, which is where they want to go, meaning they'll have to find another smuggler with a truck to continue their journey.
Alkadi said risking their lives was better than certain death in Syria.
