The vehicle, which contained up to 50 bodies, was found on a parking strip off the highway in Burgenland state, police spokesman Hans Peter Doskozil said at a press conference.
“Unfortunately there are many dead people in there,” the spokesperson said.
He described the people as refugees, but said he did not have an exact number of those found in the lorry.
It comes amid a worsening migrant crisis in Europe, with tens of thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa – primarily Syria – trying to make their way to Europe’s borderless Schengen zone.
The news comes as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Balkan leaders gathered in Vienna to decide on how to tackle together the biggest migration crisis to hit Europe since World War II.
More than 28,300 people applied for refugee protection in Austria in the first half of the year, with many coming from Syria.
The talks in Vienna on Thursday come a day after Merkel vowed zero tolerance for “vile” anti-migrant violence in Germany, and amid growing criticism of the European Union’s failure to agree a joint response.
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