The Latest: 30 migrants found in truck in North Macedonia

ZAGREB, Croatia — The Latest on migration into Europe (all times local):

3 p.m.

Police in North Macedonia say a patrol has discovered 30 migrants in an abandoned truck parked on a local road in the southeast of the country.

Police announced Sunday they spotted an abandoned truck Saturday afternoon near the town of Strumica, which borders with Greece, and discovered 30 migrants – 24 Pakistanis, three Iraqis, two Syrians and one Sudan national.

The migrants are believed to have entered illegally from Greece and to have paid smugglers to take them north through Serbia toward Europe’s prosperous heartland. Police said they were taken to a camp near the southern town of Gevgelija pending deportation to Greece.

Police say they detained a total of 10,017 migrants who entered the country illegally in the first half of the year.

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1 p.m.

Police in Croatia say a migrant has died after a van carrying 12 of them plunged into a river near the border with Slovenia.

Police say the crash happened early Sunday after the van driver refused to stop at a checkpoint and was chased by a patrol. The driver, presumably a migrant smuggler, managed to get out of the sinking vehicle, fleeing into a nearby minefield and a search for him is ongoing.

Police rescued 11 migrants from the sinking van by breaking its windows, but a woman died at a hospital.

Last week, Slovenia started erecting additional fences on its southern border with Croatia after a considerable increase in the number of migrants trying to illegally cross between the two European Union-member states.

The Associated Press

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