Europe migrant crisis: Hungary reopens Serbian border as asylum seeker influx continues

Updated

Hungary has reopened its main border crossing with Serbia, after its closure led thousands of asylum seekers to surge into Croatia and resulted in the shunting of the desperate flood of humanity from one country to another.

Key points Hungary reopens its main border with Serbia

German accommodation centre for asylum seekers hit by arson attack

Boat collision off Turkey's coast leaves 13 dead

Thousands of asylum seekers have travelled by bus and train to the Austrian border after Hungarian and Serbian interior ministers jointly reopened the Horgos-Roszke 1 crossing, which had been closed since last Monday.

"The situation dictated the closure [of the border crossing] but in cooperation with our Serbian colleagues, the problems have been overcome and conditions reached for it to reopen," said Hungarian interior minister Sandor Pinter.

Mr Pinter and his Serbian counterpart Nebojsa Stefanovic both reopened the crossing on the highway which before the migrant crisis was the main route linking Belgrade and Budapest.

The closure led to clashes between border police and asylum seekers which saw the exchange of tear gas, water cannons and stones.

It also deflected thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa to try and find other routes to western and northern Europe, where most want to start a new life.

Most flooded into Croatia, which said more than 25,000 had entered its territory in the past four days.

Within days of the border closure, Croatia announced it could not cope with the influx of arrivals and began to redirect the asylum seekers back toward Hungary or Slovenia, sparking angry reactions from both countries.

Many of the asylum seekers have fled the war in Syria, with the European Union receiving almost a quarter of a million asylum requests from April through June.

Analysis from Philip Williams at the Austrian-Hungarian border: For the first time in days or weeks, there are smiles.



People are beginning to relax as their goal of reaching Germany is now tantalisingly close.



In a well-organised operation, Austrian police and military are offering food and water to thousands of asylum seekers before buses take them on to the border in Germany.



After days of blockages and chaos, there is a clear way through - for now.



But in Croatia, there were desperate scenes as people scrambled to get on board a train heading for Hungary.



In Turkey, children are among 13 feared to have drowned when a ferry hit their inflatable boat.



Survivors said they tried to attract the ferry crew's attention with lights but where hit as they threw people into the water.



Sorry, this video has expired Video: Phil Williams reports from Nickelsdorf, Austria (ABC News)



For the first time in days or weeks, there are smiles.People are beginning to relax as their goal of reaching Germany is now tantalisingly close.In a well-organised operation, Austrian police and military are offering food and water to thousands of asylum seekers before buses take them on to the border in Germany.After days of blockages and chaos, there is a clear way through - for now.But in Croatia, there were desperate scenes as people scrambled to get on board a train heading for Hungary.In Turkey, children are among 13 feared to have drowned when a ferry hit their inflatable boat.Survivors said they tried to attract the ferry crew's attention with lights but where hit as they threw people into the water.

Germany alone expected up to a million asylum seekers this year.

At the Austrian town of Nickelsdorf on the Hungarian border, some 7,000 refugees and migrants were stuck waiting for onwards transport to elsewhere in Europe — some of them in a long snaking line for buses, others hoping for taxis to take them to Vienna.

"Once you get to Austria, you've arrived," said Saeed, a 23-year-old from Damascus who is hoping his odyssey will end in Germany.

"As we approach the Europe that we want, people are getting nicer and nicer."

There were more bottlenecks elsewhere along the long asylum seeker trail up from Greece through the Balkans, as authorities in a string of countries struggle to cope with the inflow.

At Tovarnik in Croatia, on the border with Serbia, the interior ministry said nearly 4,000 people were waiting for transport towards Hungary.

Buses and trains were arriving constantly, but not quickly enough to keep up with the relentless pace of arrivals.

Officials were organising more busses for the onward journey to Germany.

Hungary reinforces its border

Croatian state-run broadcaster HRT reported a convoy of Hungarian military vehicles arriving at the two countries' border crossing at Beremend, and aired images of officials placing several large metal panels across a road on the Hungarian side.

Workers also arrived with fencing pillars and barbed wire in an apparent effort to reinforce Hungary's border.

The right-wing government in Budapest has already built a razor-wire barrier along much of its border with Croatia, after sealing off its frontier with Serbia in a bid to keep asylum seekers out.

It appeared to be letting arrivals squeeze through from Croatia slowly, with only half of the 10 waiting buses waiting at Beremend allowed through by the afternoon, Croatian national radio reported.

Hungarian authorities had begun transporting thousands of asylum seekers straight to the border with Austria in an apparent bid to move them through and out of their territory as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile police in Germany said there had been an arson attack on a planned accommodation centre for asylum seekers in the south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the latest sign of tension as asylum seekers continue to flow into the country.

Police in the city of Heilbronn said no one had been in the sports hall in nearby Wertheim at the time of the attack and it was not possible to enter the building because of fire damage.

The attack came as a senior member of parliament in chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), spoke out in favour of tighter rules on granting asylum.

"Those who are not in danger should leave Germany as quickly as possible," German politician Gerda Hasselfeldt told local media.

"We have to set clear priorities. We need our energy and resources for those who are fleeing war and persecution."

The number of migrants and refugees entering Germany, which recently reimposed border controls, was lower on Saturday, with 1,710 people registered, than on Friday, when the number was 1,985, police said.

13 dead in migrant boat collision off Turkey coast

At least 13 asylum seekers died off the coast of Turkey after the inflatable dinghy carrying them to Greece collided with a ferry, Turkish media reported.

"It was dark, we saw the ship bearing down on us. We tried to signal with flashlights and cellphones but they did not see us," a survivor whose name was given as Haseen told Greek state news agency ANA.

Thrown overboard, the passengers fought to keep their heads above water.

"We lost the children. We could not see them in the dark," Haseen said.

Four children were among the victims of the accident involving a boat carrying 46 asylum seekers from the north-western Turkish port of Canakkale to the Greek island of Lesbos.

Twenty people were rescued and 13 people were still missing, the report added.

There was no information on the nationalities of the asylum seekers.

The sinking was the second on Sunday in the Aegean Sea, with the Greek coastguard reporting another two dozen feared missing from a boat that got into trouble close to Lesbos.

The coastguard said it had rescued 20 people spotted in the water by a helicopter deployed by European Union border agency Frontex, but the survivors said another 26 people had been in the boat.

On Saturday, a five-year-old Syrian girl died in another attempted crossing from Turkey to Greece — a perilous journey that has claimed hundreds of asylum seekers lives this year.

More than 2,600 people have died among the nearly half a million who have braved dangerous trips across the Mediterranean to reach Europe so far this year.

AFP/Reuters

Topics: refugees, immigration, unrest-conflict-and-war, world-politics, community-and-society, hungary, germany, turkey, european-union

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