Thousands of migrants seeking to reach Western Europe were stranded in fog and cold weather in Croatia and Serbia yesterday, a day after Hungary closed its border with Croatia and the flow of people was redirected to a much slower route via Slovenia.

Slovenia has said it will only take in 2,500 people a day, significantly stalling the movement of people across the Balkans as they flee wars and poverty in countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. On Saturday, over 6,000 people reached Croatia, and most of them were stuck in the country yesterday.

The migrant route switched to Slovenia early on Saturday after Hungary’s right-wing government closed its border to Croatia, citing security concerns and saying it wants to protect the European Union from an uncontrolled flow of people. Croatian police said nearly 4,000 people remained in the refugee camp in Opatovac, eastern Croatia, where buses and trains were waiting to take them toward Slovenia, the next step on their journey toward richer EU states, such as Germany or Sweden.

Across the border in Serbia, thousands were yesterday sitting in buses waiting to cross to Croatia. More are expected to arrive today.

“We are waiting here four hours on the bus,” said Muhammad Samin from Afghanistan. “The weather is too cold. We wear lots of shirts. The children are also in the cold. No food.”

Flow of migrants redirected to much slower route via Slovenia

The UN refugee agency warned that Hungary’s decision to close its border for migrants could lead to a backlog down the so-called Balkan route that goes from Turkey through Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia.

Babar Baloch, regional spokesman for Central Europe for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said the new migrant route through Slovenia has significantly prolonged their already weeks-long journey.

The Hungarian border closure is the latest demonstration of the EU’s uncoordinated response to the surge of people reaching its borders. More than 600,000 people, mostly Syrians, have reached Europe since the beginning of this year.

Hungary decided to close the border with Croatia after EU leaders last week failed to agree on a plan backed by Hungary to send EU forces to block migrants from reaching Greece from Turkey. It did the same on September 15 on the border with Serbia after erecting a razor wire fence on both frontiers.