By RTL News··Modified:
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At least 10 people died when a boat capsized on the Drina River, the border river between Serbia and Bosnia, on Tuesday evening. A human rights lawyer says the survivors were detained and illegally taken across the border into Serbia.
Among the victims of the boat accident were a mother and a 9-month-old baby. The search for victims is continuing, although it is unclear how many people are missing.
According to Milica Svabic of the Serbian NGO Click Active, eighteen people survived the incident. They swam to the shore and reached the beach in Bosnia. There they were arrested and detained. According to the lawyer, there were several children among them. Some of them have already been taken across the border to Serbia.
internationally recognized refugees
Svabic says this is contrary to European treaties and laws. For example, according to the Serbian Interior Ministry, most of those on board the ship came from Syria, and Syrians are internationally recognized as refugees. Also according to Bosnian law, these people have the right to be accommodated in a refugee camp and to have a fair asylum procedure.
Bosnia and Serbia lie on the so-called Balkan route. This means that many migrants are trying to reach the EU via these countries. According to the Serbian government, many of the migrants who have tried to enter the EU this way in recent months have come from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Morocco and Pakistan.
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