Migrants hit by sub-zero temperatures in Serbia

Record ID: 118494

  • Title: Migrants hit by sub-zero temperatures in Serbia
  • Date: 20th January 2016
  • Summary: ADASEVCI, SERBIA (JANUARY 20, 2016) (REUTERS) BUSES PARKED IN PARKING LOT MIGRANTS WALKING ALONGSIDE PARKED BUSES VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS SITTING INSIDE SHELTER CENTRE BEHIND GLASS MIGRANTS WALKING NEAR BUSES MAN ENTERING BUS WOMAN CARRYING BABY IN ARMS (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANTS FROM FALLUJA, IRAQ, AMR, SAYING: "There's Daesh (Islamic State) there, and bombers, everything there, it's possibility dangerous." MIGRANTS STANDING BY BUSES (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANTS FROM FALLUJA, IRAQ, AMR, SAYING: "It's too cold, but what can I do? I am wearing everything but it is too cold." (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM SYRIA, BASEM, SAYING:: "We are going to Germany because [of] wars and I am gay. Gay in Syria very problem, is big problem in Syria. I am going to Germany because [of] life and my love, my love in Syria, from in Syria, I want to live my life in Germany." MAN CARRYING CHILD BOARDING BUS SID, SERBIA (JANUARY 20, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS WAITING TO BOARD TRAIN FOR CROATIA MIGRANTS WALKING TOWARDS TRAIN PLATFORM MAN WALKING WITH CHILDREN WOMAN CARRYING CHILD CHILD WAITING TO GET ON BOARD MAN CARRYING BABY COVERED WITH BLANKET IN ARMS MIGRANTS WALKING TOWARDS TRAIN MIGRANTS GETTING OFF BUS MAN HOLDING BABY STANDING TWO WOMEN HOLDING CHILDREN IN ARMS MIGRANTS WAITING IN LINE TO BOARD TRAIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNHCR PROTECTION OFFICER, MAHMOUD AWAD, SAYING: "For Sid, the heating system is operational, UNHCR, other partners are delivering winterized items like blankets, jackets and the [Serbian] commissariat [for refugees] are delivering the food and taking care of the accommodation." MIGRANTS WAITING TO BOARD TRAIN MIGRANTS WALKING TOWARDS TRAIN CARRIAGES MIGRANTS GETTING ON TRAIN UNHCR AID WORKER PUSHING MAN IN WHEELCHAIR
  • Embargoed: 4th February 2016 12:58
  • Keywords: migrants refugees winter Balkans Europe crisis
  • Location: ADASEVCI AND SID, SERBIA
  • City: ADASEVCI AND SID, SERBIA
  • Country: Serbia
  • Reuters ID: LVA00140UU2X3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Migrants braved temperatures as low as -15 degrees Celsius on Wednesday (January 20) to cross frozen Balkan borders en route to western Europe, visibly unprepared for winter and in increasing danger from the cold.
    Governments and aid agencies have laid on heated tents and mobilised trains and buses to support the flow of migrants, most of them refugees from the war in Syria winding across the Balkan peninsula.
    But the sheer numbers - though down from a summer peak of some 10,000 to just under 2,000 per day - mean many spend nights sleeping on tent floors.
    Most migrants wore jackets and sneakers; some had hats and gloves, and many were wrapped in grey blankets handed out by the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
    "There's Daesh (Islamic State) there, and bombers, everything there, it's possibility dangerous," one 22-year-old man from Iraq's Fallujah, Amr, said.
    "It's too cold, but what can I do? I am wearing everything but it is too cold," he added.
    On the highway in Serbia, hundreds of migrants received hot soup, tea and gloves from aid groups at a disused motel that has been turned into a refugee camp.
    "We are going to Germany because [of] wars and I am gay. Gay in Syria very problem, is big problem in Syria. I am going to Germany because [of] life and my love, my love in Syria, from in Syria, I want to live my life in Germany," one Syrian, Basem, said.
    More than a million people fleeing war, poverty and repression in the Middle East and Africa reached Europe's shores last year, most heading for Germany.
    Aid agencies expect a similar number this year, testing the willingness of a divided Europe to take them in and putting unprecedented strain on the continent's commitment to a Schengen zone of open borders.
    The United Nations and aid agencies warned on Tuesday (January 19) that children were particularly at risk given their lack of adequate clothing or access to sufficient nutrition.
    "For Sid, the heating system is operational, UNHCR, other partners are delivering winterized items like blankets, jackets and the [Serbian] commissariat [for refugees] are delivering the food and taking care of the accommodation," one UNHCR protection officer, Mahmoud Awad, said at Sid railway station.
    A spokesman for the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said the risk of children freezing to death was "clearly very, very high".
    The long walk from Macedonia into Serbia appeared to be the toughest for the migrants. Bus and train transport through Serbia and into Croatia and then Slovenia has significantly cut down the time they spend exposed to the cold.
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