ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) – A boat carrying migrants overturned early on Thursday on the Sava river in eastern Croatia, killing at least three people and injuring eight, officials said.
The accident happened in the eastern town of Slavonski Brod, by the border with Bosnia. Migrants were apparently trying to cross the Sava River in dense fog when their boat capsized, rescuers told HRT state television.
Firefighter Ivan Vuleta said emergency services received a call around 5:30 a.m. that people were in the river and they rushed to the scene in rescue boats. Police said a man from Bosnia is suspected of people smuggling. He has been hospitalized.
The migrants’ nationalities have not been specified.
People fleeing violence or poverty in the Middle East, Asia or Africa often face perils as they try to reach Western Europe with the help of people smugglers who guide them over the borders illegally.
Migrants enter Croatia, a European Union member state, either from Bosnia or Serbia. The countries lie on the so-called Balkan land route for migrants leading from Turkey or Greece and through North Macedonia.