Hungary closed its border with Serbia after some 50,000 migrants crossed through in a week

Relations complicated by Hungary's razor-wire fence along its 110-mile border with Serbia

The reopening follows negotiations with Hungarian interior minister's Serbian counterpart

crossing with Serbia open almost a week after sealing it off to stop migrants entering


At least 20,000 more migrants flooded into Austria at the weekend as the crisis engulfing Europe deepened.

They arrived by bus, train and on foot from European countries overwhelmed by the human tide escaping war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Meanwhile at least 39 migrants, including six children, drowned in two boat tragedies off the coast of Turkey.

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Helping hands: Migrants desperately try to board a train heading for Zagreb from Tovarnik station in Croatia yesterday

Improvising: A man uses a cardboard box to carry a baby in the northern Greek village of Idomeni yesterday

Making haste: Migrants run yesterday as they cross the border from Croatia near the village of Zakany, Hungary

On foot: Police officers lead refugees towards the railway station at the Serbia-Hungary border town of Zakany yesterday

Waiting: Refugees on a train at the Serbia-Hungary border town of Zakany, Hungary - transported from Tovarnik, at the border with Serbia

Scrambling to get on board: Refugees board a train at a railway station at the Serbia-Hungary border town of Zakany yesterday

In the rain: A Croatian police officer tries his best to hold back migrants pushing to get aboard a train bound for Hungary and Austria

Playful: A young girl sticks her tongue out and gives the thumbs up after boarding a train to Graz at a railway station in Spielfeld

On land, thousands undertaking the gruelling journey in search of a better life in Western Europe continued to arrive at borders in the Balkans.

In extraordinary scenes, more than 20,000 crossed into Austria over the weekend – more than the 17,395 who claimed asylum in the country in April to June.

Determined to reach Germany, Scandinavia or the UK, exhausted migrants arrived at the Nickelsdorf crossing with Hungary.

As they flocked over the border, Budapest abruptly decided to reopen the Horgos-Roszke highway crossing on its southern border with Serbia, although it insisted strict checks would remain in place.

On Monday last week, Hungary – which has received 54,000 migrants this year – sealed its border with Serbia and made it a criminal offence to cross it.

Control: A Hungarian policeman tries to organise a group of migrants as they cross the border from Croatia near the village of Zakany

Maintaining order: Slovenian police officers face refugees waiting to cross the border from Croatia at a border station in Harmica, Croatia

Huge numbers: A woman turns around as refugees crowd in front of a line of police officers to cross the border from Croatia to Slovenia

Tears: A boy tries to help his mother who was crushed when migrants tried to board a train at the Croatian-Serbian border, near Tovarnik

Desperation: Migrants climb through windows of a trains at a railway station at the Croatian-Serbian border, near Tovarnik

Aid: A policeman helps a woman with her baby board a train bound for Hungary and Austria from a station at the Croatian-Serbian border

Helping him on board: Migrants try to board a train heading for the capital Zagreb from Tovarnik station in Croatia yesterday

Upside down: Migrants pictured at the train station in the Croatian town of Tovarnik rush to board a train heading to Hungary

Emotional scene: Police try to control migrants as they desperately try to board a train heading for Zagreb from Tovarnik station

Europe has lost control of its external borders, the president of the European Council warned last night. Donald Tusk urged EU leaders to face the ‘brutal reality’ that ‘we as Europeans are currently not able to manage our common external borders’, the Financial Times reported. A meeting between ambassadors representing all member states was held at the weekend to discuss how to share out 120,000 refugees. Factors including gross domestic product and the existing number of asylum seekers will help determine how many each state should take. Advertisement

Relations between the two countries have been complicated by Hungary’s decision to construct a razor wire fence along its 110-mile border with Serbia to keep migrants out.

Barricading the border forced thousands to push west, seeking an alternative route via Croatia.

But after 25,000 migrants entered its territory in four days, Zagreb transported them over its border with Hungary.

From there, the Hungarian authorities shuttled them to reception centres close to the border with Austria. Migrants have been able to move easily through there.

Yesterday evening, two trains from Austria carrying 1,000 migrants crossed the border with Germany at Freilassing.

Five more trains, each carrying 500, are expected to make the journey today.

Elsewhere, at least 13 migrants, including six children, died when their inflatable dinghy collided with a ferry off Turkey.

The Turkish coastguard said the accident happened close to the port of Canakkale after the boat set sail to the Greek island of Lesbos.

In a second incident, Greece’s coastguard said it had rescued 22 migrants in the water near Lesbos – but a further 26 were missing.

On the scene: Police guard a train heading for Zagreb as migrants desperately try to continue to board at Tovarnik station in Croatia

Wet conditions: Police try and control migrants as they desperately try to board a train heading for Zagreb from Tovarnik station yesterday

Young and old: A Croatian policeman helps a child board a train bound for Hungary and Austria from the Croatia-Serbia border

Pulled in: Migrants at a train station in Tovarnik rush to board a train heading to the Hungarian border yesterday

Head first: After Hungary shut its border crossings to migrants, most flooded into Croatia

Moving on: Migrants desperately try and board a train heading for Zagreb from Tovarnik station in Croatia yesterday

Together: A Syrian family poses as migrants walk on a dirt road towards the Serbia-Croatia border, near the western-Serbia town of Sid

Stay there: Hungarian policemen try to organise a group of migrants as they cross the border from Croatia near the village of Zakany

Taking time: Migrants wait to board a train for Zagreb at the railway station in Tovarnik, Eastern Croatia, near the Serbian border

Waiting game: A photograph shows migrants at the railway station in Tovarnik, eastern Croatia, near the Serbian border

Controls: Hungary announced the construction of a new fence along a 25-mile stretch of its border with Croatia (shown in orange), just days after putting up a barrier along its frontier with Serbia (shown in red)

Families willing to shelter Syrian refugees have been told they can help out only if they have a second home. The Government’s ruling is in line with health and safety measures that say accommodation must be ‘self-contained’. Zoë Fritz, of Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, accused ministers of ‘not thinking outside the box’. Advertisement

More than 2,600 people have died out of nearly half a million who have undertaken perilous trips across the Mediterranean from North Africa and Turkey to reach Europe this year.

The Italian navy said it had rescued nearly 250 migrants off the Libyan coast after picking up more than 4,500 on Saturday.

But many migrants are now turning to Turkey’s land borders with Greece and Bulgaria to avoid the treacherous sea voyage.

The EU, which has been strongly criticised for failing to tackle the crisis, will host an emergency meeting of ministers on Tuesday in a bid to get agreement on countries sharing 120,000 refugees.

The following day, EU leaders will hold a summit on migration.

Sending in the army: A military convoy is seen on a main road near Nagykanizsa, Hungary, close to the Hungarian-Croatian border

Border control: The Hungarian army takes security measures at Hungarian-Croatian border as thousands of refugees arrived from Croatia

Tensions mount: The Hungarian army marches at the Hungarian-Croatian border, as the country strengthens its border security

On the move: Migrants raise their hands as they wait to cross the border from the northern Greek village of Idomeni to southern Macedonia

Getting through: Refugees and migrants break a fence as they run to cross the border from the Greek village of Idomeni to Macedonia

Running: More than 2,000 refugees and economic migrants wait at the village of about 100 inhabitants every day to be let into Macedonia

Red cross workers and volunteers set up impromptu feeding stations, handing out sandwiches and noodles.

Not far from the scene, more people arrived by foot, crossing into Austria after buses on the Hungarian side let them out at Hegyeshalom.

German federal police say they are expecting two special trains from Austria to bring migrants across the border into Germany via the south-eastern town of Freilassing.

The trains will be carrying some 500 migrants each and are expected to arrive Sunday evening.

Another five special trains with 500 people each on board will arrive in Freilassing from Austria on Monday.

Meanwhile off the Turkish coast, the bodies of 13 migrants were discovered after a boat collided with a ferry.

In water: An overcrowded dinghy drifts out of control after its engine broke down while crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Lesbos

Swimming: Migrants whose boat stalled at sea while crossing from Turkey to Greece swim to approach the shore of the island of Lesbos

In a boat: Refugees arrive on the shore of Sykamias beach, west of the port city of Mytilini, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey

Taken to land: At least 13 migrants drowned off Turkey after the inflatable dinghy carrying them to Greece was hit in the dark by a ship

The commercial vessel hit the migrant boat off the western port city of Canakkale today, Turkey's coastguard agency said in a statement on its website.

An official at the agency said eight people had been rescued following incident and search-and-rescue operations were ongoing.

Meanwhile, a search for 26 migrants missing off the coast of the Greek island of Lesbos is underway after their boat sank this morning.

A Lithuanian helicopter from European border control agency Frontex spotted people in the Aegean Sea and two coastguard vessels rushed to the scene.

They were able to rescue 20 migrants, who said they were in a boat with a total of 46 people on board.

State news agency ANA said there were children among the missing.

A coastguard spokeswoman said: 'They (the migrants) told rescuers there were 46 people in the inflatable dinghy in total.'

And in the northern Greek village of Idomeni today, more than 2,000 migrants waited to be let into Macedonia.

Bottle: A woman feeds a baby as migrants wait to board buses in Nickelsdorf at the Austrian-Hungarian border yesterday

Not moving: Refugees wait to board buses to take them further in to Austria from Nickelsdorf at the Austrian-Hungarian border

Life on the move: A boy plays with a toy tractor as migrants wait to board buses to take them further in to Austria from Nickelsdorf

Slovenia's Prime Minister Miro Cerar has urged a swift all-EU response to the migrant crisis in a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Mr Cerar's office says he spoke with Merkel on the phone today. Mr Cerar has said that Slovenia has the situation with migrants coming in the country from Croatia under control, but that the EU must come up with an effective solution.

The statement says Mr Cerar has asked for 'basic guidelines' to be hammered out at EU meetings in the coming days.

Authorities say about 2,500 refugees have come to Slovenia from Croatia.

Yesterday, Canada's conservative government said that it would accept 10,000 Syrian refugees within one year by simplifying and speeding up the immigration application process.

Visa officers will no longer ask the applicants to prove that they are refugees through a United Nations refugee agency, but will instead 'presume those fleeing the conflict meet the definition of a refugee, which will make processing faster,' the Ministry of Immigration and Citizenship said in a statement.

As a result, 'we anticipate meeting Canada's current commitment of resettling 10,000 Syrians by September 2016 - 15 months earlier than planned.

Canada's existing commitment to resettle 23,000 Iraqis will also be fulfilled by the end of this year,' the statement read.

Mobile: A woman with her cat uses her phone while waiting near the border crossing between Obrezje in Slovenia and Bregana in Croatia

Drink: A woman gives a child water as they sit with other refugees on a bridge between Croatia and Slovenian border