The first refugees have crossed the Serbia-Croatian frontier, carving out a new route through Europe after Hungary sealed its borders.
According to Aljazeera, The development came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday called for a special EU refugee summit, urging unity in the European response to the crisis. Croatian police on Wednesday said they were registering refugees entering from Serbia and would transport them to reception centres near the capital Zagreb.
A police spokesman in the eastern border county of Vukovarsko-Srijemska confirmed an unspecified number of refugees had crossed into Croatia, after a Reuters news agency cameraman saw at least 100 walking through fields across the border.
Earlier on Wednesday, a group of 30-40 mostly Syrian or Afghan nationals arrived at the Serbian town of Sid near the Croatian border. They had travelled by bus from the Macedonian border at Presevo, 500km to the south.
Among the mixed group of men, women and children of all ages was Amadou, 35, from Mauritania in western Africa.
“We heard that Hungary was closed so the police told us we should come this way,” he said. “We don’t know what we should do now. Do we have to catch a boat?”
