ISLAMABAD – Police in Slovenia say they have found 20 migrants fromPakistan in a van that crashed after entering the country illegally fromCroatia.
They say a patrol chased the van, which then swerved off the road due tohigh-speed early on Wednesday. Several people have been hospitalised, onewith serious injuries.
Police say the van had Austrian license plates and a Ukrainian driver whotried to escape by a crossing a river but stopped after a police warning.
The incident illustrates dangers migrants face as they try to cross bordersillegally in an attempt to reach wealthy European nations. Several thousandhave been stuck in Serbia waiting for a chance to move on.
The United Nation’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) recentlyestimated that the number of Migrants travelling from Pakistan along theCentral and Eastern Mediterranean routes for asylum and jobs in parts ofEastern Europe has been increasing since 2016.
Majority of such people are from Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Balochistan and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the IOM said.
Thousands of immigrants including Syrians, Iraqis, Pakistanis and Afghanshave entered Europe in recent years.
At the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, over a million migrantsarrived in Europe by sea, though the numbers have declined since a 2016deal between Turkey and the European Union.