ZAGREB, Croatia — The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe (all times local):
11:55 a.m.
Police in Slovenia say a 20-year-old refugee from Syria has died after family members rescued him from a forest in the south of the country.
Police said Friday that the man died Thursday in the southern town of Ilirska Bistrica from hypothermia and exhaustion despite being given medical assistance.
They say the man called cousins who live as refugees in Germany to come find him in the forest, gave the co-ordinates of his position and said he was unable to continue.
After finding him, the cousins took the man to a nearby police station but doctors couldn’t help him, the STA news agency reported.
The incident illustrates the dangers migrants face while trying to reach wealthy nations of the European Union.
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10:15 a.m.
A leading international human rights body says Croatia should not be allowed into the European Union’s border-free travel zone because of its treatment of migrants crossing into the country from neighbouring Bosnia.
In a report Friday, Human Rights Watch criticized the EU’s executive Commission for saying last month that Croatia is ready to join the so-called Schengen Area.
It said Croatia’s “unlawful and violent summary returns of asylum seekers and migrants should disqualify it from joining the Schengen Area” and that the Commission’s actions “sends the message that serious human rights abuses are no obstacle to Schengen accession.”
There was no immediate reaction from Croatia to the report. Croatian officials have repeatedly denied accusations of abuse from migrants and human rights groups.
The Associated Press
