Five migrants drown in river on Croatia-Slovenia border

Croatian police discovered a group of migrants near the Kupa River on the border with Slovenia in the afternoon and pulled the bodies of five drowned people from the water. Around 20 others from the same group were rescued: a police officer pulled five out of the water, while 14 swam across the river on their own and reached the Slovenian side.

According to police, they were called to the group of migrants near the village of Damalj on the Croatian bank of the river in the afternoon. One of the officers jumped into the water and saved five migrants who were in distress, but five others from the same group drowned despite the rescue effort. The Kupa River (known in Slovenian as the Kolpa) forms the border between Croatia and Slovenia at this stretch — both EU member states.

Croatia and Slovenia lie on the so-called Western Balkan migration route, one of the main paths for migrants entering the EU. According to the Frontex migration agency, around 5,700 migrants were intercepted on this route from January through the end of August — 28% fewer than in the same period last year.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz