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BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The daily arrival of thousands of refugees and migrants is putting a severe strain on Croatia and Slovenia. The UN refugee agency is urging the two countries to keep their borders open to ease passage.
Exhausted from their journey, refugees and migrants are now waiting in Serbia to enter Croatia. They're hoping to cross and continue their way into Europe.
The UN refugee agency and other organizations are working very hard to help the refugees while they are still here.
"Well, at the moment I mean, if the Croatian side closes the border, there will be a lot of crowd here, and I mean we cannot predict anything except these people will keep needing help, and they will have to cross we cannot stop them, and we would urge the sides to keep the borders open and make priority of these people's needs in the first place," said Iroda Asqarova, UN refugee agency coordinator.
The refugees and migrants have been waiting for hours, even overnight, to get on the bus that will take them across the border.
"You know, this is new situation maybe, there is nobody can walk to get inside Croatia, only the police said we have to get in the buses. There is only when the bus come out, bus come in, one by one," said Syrian refugee Berkasovo, Serbia.
Desperation is driving them to enter. Since Hungary closed its border, Croatia has been diverting refugees and migrants to Slovenia.
Around 2,700 people were admitted to Slovenia from Croatia on Saturday. It's the second refugee wave reaching the country in a month.
On Saturday, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on European Union member states to cooperate, to solve the worst refugee crisis since World War Two.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
