Ten migrants, including small children, found starving near southern border

Srna

While marking suspected minefields, Bosnian deminers found at the border to Montenegro ten migrants in “a very difficult condition,” including five children and one pregnant woman, authorities said on Tuesday.

“They had not been eating or drinking for five days and the worst image of all was that of tired children and the pregnant woman who we barely managed to get to the border crossing,” said Miso Pamucina, the demining coordinator with the Trebinje city authorities.

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Pamucina said that the migrants told him that they were transported to the territory of Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority part of Bosnia, by Croatian police.

“This is outrageous. It was pure luck that we were putting up signs today and that we found them. What would have happened to them is questionable,” Pamucina said, adding that the migrants were Kurds from Iraq and Iran.

One of the migrants, Jusuf, said that his group was travelling towards Italy when Croatian authorities stopped them.

He said the Croatian officers left them there without any food.

Bosnia’s border police took over the group and members of the Red Cross secured medical attention and food for them.

As the spring is approaching, more and more migrants are entering Bosnia, trying to cross the country towards Western Europe. Very often when Croatian police find them in Croatia, they escort them back to Bosnia, reportedly using violence.

Srna