Thousands of exhausted migrants on long march to better life reach Serbia

Thousands of exhausted migrants trudged on foot into Serbia on Monday as they continued their gruelling journey towards hopes of a better life in Europe Some 7,000 migrants, mostly from Syria and including many women with babies and small children, have already crossed from Macedonia. Some were pushed in wheelchairs and wheel barrows or walked on crutches. But they still have many miles to go as they head towards EU-member Hungary from where they want to continue further north to richer countries, such as Germany and Sweden. After asking for asylum, they have three days to reach the border with Hungary which is rushing to build a barbed wire fence to block them.

This is a humanitarian disaster, this is a real disaster for the whole European Union and I think there is the real need to have more focus on this problem

Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz

The surge of migrants, mostly coming through Greece and Macedonia after fleeing the Syrian civil war, is causing headaches for authorities across Europe. On Monday, there were scuffles between Macedonian police and the incoming migrants on the border with Greece, leaving one pregnant woman slightly injured. In Austria, police said 37 people were injured — seven seriously — when two vans packed with migrants collided on Monday near the Hungarian border. Dozens more migrants fled, along with the suspected smugglers. Meanwhile, coastguards in Greece and Turkey recovered five bodies after two boats carrying refugees or migrants heading for the Aegean island of Lesbos capsized in separate incidents. More than 70 people were rescued but at least five more were still missing.

Europe serbia migrants