Zagreb, September 17 (RHC)-- Nearly 4,000 refugees, mostly from crisis-hit Syria, have entered Croatia from Serbia in the past 24 hours following a move by Hungary to close its borders to them.
On Thursday, huge numbers of asylum seekers were continuing to arrive in Croatia, which has become their new path on the long journey to Western Europe, Croatia's state-run HRT television channel reported.
Some 800 refugees on board a train from the village of Tovarnik, near Croatia's border with Serbia, reportedly arrived in the town of Dugo Selo, near the capital, Zagreb, early on Thursday. Croatian officials transferred the asylum seekers to a center in nearby Jezevo.
Late on Wednesday, Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic had said his country was ready for the arrivals, but could not cope with high numbers. "We are ready to [provide] asylum to a few thousand people and we can handle that, but we are not ready for tens of thousands," Pusic told HRT, adding: "We do not have capacities' for such an influx.
Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic is scheduled to hold talks on the refugee crisis in Zagreb with Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann later on Thursday. Then, Milanovic would pay a visit to Ljubljana to meet with his Slovenian counterpart Miro Cerar.
