Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
IT’S THE first time that Arman Butt, a Pakistani man desperately seeking to reach western Europe, sees snow.
But as the 30-year-old goes limp in the harsh chill, stuck at the Slovenian-Austrian border, he wishes it was not quite so cold.
He is one of some 50 men braving freezing temperatures and walking the short distance that separates the Austrian border post from Slovenia.
Butt is from Lahore, in the east of Pakistan. He has been on the move since 20 September.
A few hours ago, he was pushed back into Slovenia by Austrian border guards. Wearing canvas shoes, his feet are frozen and he can barely walk.
Yet he is determined to keep trying until he makes it across.
Slovenian civil defence teams and army troops march alongside the migrants towards Austria’s Spielfeld frontier post.
Every day, some 900 refugees and migrants who have braved freezing-cold temperatures arrive here on trains from Croatia, further south.
Most people reaching Europe’s shores have fled wars, violence and persecution in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Many others though, like Butt, are in search of a better life. They are facing major difficulties in getting across borders on the so-called Balkan migrant route to western Europe.
Another large group of men at the Slovenian border post of Sentilj – mainly Moroccans and Algerians – said they have been pushed back from the Austrian frontier up to five times each in recent days, leaving them in a state of limbo between the two countries.
Earlier this month, Austrian police manning the border post of Carinthia said they had pushed back “several hundred” migrants suspected of having claimed a false nationality in a bid to get through.
‘Nothing can stop them’
Several European states have introduced unprecedented border controls since the peak of the migrant crisis last year. EU powerhouse Germany – the migrants’ preferred destination – and Austria tightened controls in mid-September.
Sweden, long seen as a haven for refugees, has also introduced temporary controls, triggering a knock-on effect and prompting Denmark to do the same on its frontier with Germany.
Butt said he left Pakistan in September because he was convinced that “Europe had opened up its borders”.
“We can’t go backwards, we have spent too much money to come here,” he said, adding that he has already spent €7,000.
He has paid smugglers exorbitant sums to cross the Aegean Sea and then non-EU member Macedonia, which has made it especially hard since November for people not fleeing war zones to enter.
At a transit camp for migrants at Gevgelija near the Macedonian border with Greece, many people have fallen ill in recent days, “especially children”, because of the low temperatures that have hit Europe and the Balkans since the start of the year, according to aid worker Lence Zdravkin.
“More and more people are arriving here without any money, unable to continue their journeys,” Zdravkin said, adding that many had been left penniless by their smugglers.
People “arrive wet and with colds, with wet shoes kids have fever and are coughing,” said Jasmin Rexhepi, who works for a Macedonian NGO named Legis.
Further north in Serbia, where temperatures have reached -8 degrees Celsius, a bus system has been set up to help migrants on the move reach the transit camp in Presevo near the Macedonian border.
“However it does not stop refugees, who are still arriving with children, elderly and even disabled people,” said Dafina Aliji, a local humanitarian activist.
Nothing can stop them.
More than a million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe in 2015 in the worst crisis of its kind to face the continent since World War II.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Very sad news and sadly happening too often.
@Shane Walsh: what happened
@Padraic Mulry: Fatality on the line. (See Irish Rail Twitter)
Close the comments ffs!
@Chessie Cat: Why?
@Chessie Cat: always the houlier than thou person in the with close the comments comment. Grow up.
@Dave Harris: People not person..
@Dave Harris:
If you were there when it happened you wouldn’t be so smug!
Update: Services between Bray and Greystones suspended UFN due to a tragic incident on the line. Bus services are accepting tickets. Bus transfers for Rosslare services. DARTs operating between Bray and Howth/Malahide, significant knock on delays can be expected https://t.co/vtXSi8G1Lu
Why the cover-up?
Sounds like a suicide to me.
Intelligence-insulting euphemisms like “tragic incident” really don’t help.
@A Pop Fan’s Dream: Maybe the author phrased it in that such way out of respect for the family. It is no ones business but the families about what happened to their loved one. The main point that was being said in this article is that the rail services has been suspended, not to spread the gory details on what happened. Be careful about what you comment on these posts. You don’t know who is reading it, including the persons family (which is me).
have your say