Croatia ‘forcing’ Hungary to take in refugees
21 Sept 2015 5:19 AM IST
Croatia said on Saturday it had “forced” Hungary to take in thousands of migrants and would continue sending them to its northern neighbor, amid deepening discord and disarray in Europe over the biggest westwards migration in decades.
More than 20,000 migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, have streamed into Croatia since Hungary on Tuesday barred their route to the European Union through its southern border with Serbia with a metal fence, tear gas and water cannon. Warning it was losing control, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said his country would give them food, water and medical attention, and send them on their way.
There were increasingly ugly exchanges between the two countries, reflecting the anger and ill-feeling between the EU’s 28 member states over what to do with the hundreds of thousands of migrants reaching its shores, fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
EU leaders are to hold a summit on Wednesday, trying again to reach agreement on how to share out about 120,000 people. Even then, more are on their way, flowing by the several thousand every day over Balkans borders having reached Greece from Turkey by boat and dinghy. Hungary said more than 5,000 had crossed from Croatia by bus and train on Friday. More were expected on Saturday and at least 20 buses on the Hungarian side of the border lined up in the village of Beremend waiting to pick them up.
Syrian girl dies in migrant boat sinking off Greece
A five-year-old Syrian girl was found dead on Saturday and several other refugees were believed to be missing when their boat sank in an attempted crossing from Turkey to Greece, the state ANA agency reported.
The Greek coastguard rescued another 13 people and was looking for other survivors, the agency said.
The accident occurred north of the island of Lesbos, one of the Greek islands that have seen a heavy influx of refugees from war-torn Syria this year.
Many have perished trying to cross the Aegean Sea in search of a better future in Europe.
Earlier this month, harrowing pictures of three-year-old Syrian refugee <g data-gr-id="51">Aylan</g> <g data-gr-id="52">Kurdi</g>, whose body was found washed up on a Turkish beach after the boat carrying his family to the Greek island of Kos sank, caused an outpouring of emotion around the world, pressuring European leaders to step up their response to the refugee crisis.
The body of another four-year-old Syrian girl washed up on a beach in western Turkey on Friday.
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