Three migrants were killed and 11 injured in a traffic accident in southern Serbia, with the driver detained on suspicion of smuggling, Balkan police said on Tuesday.
Police said the 43-year-old Serbian driver did not have a driving license and was among those injured in the accident.
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The accident occurred late Monday in southern Serbia, near the border with North Macedonia. Both countries are on the so-called Balkan land route, used by migrants trying to reach Western Europe.
On February 20, 2024, a traffic accident occurred in southern Serbia, killing three migrants and injuring 11 others. Photo: A police investigator stands next to a crashed car carrying migrants in the Hungarian-Serbia border town of Morakhalom on December 14, 2021. (Ferenc Donka/AFP via Getty Images)
Video from state-run RTS television showed a heavily damaged white car being removed from the scene. According to the report, the car ran off the road at a high rate of speed.
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The incident highlights the dangers faced by migrants fleeing war and poverty in their home countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia during their journeys. Migrants typically rely on smugglers to help them cross borders without permission.
The land route in the Balkans runs from Turkey through Greece or Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia, and then to the European Union countries of Hungary or Croatia.
