Afghan citizens among 9 asylum seekers found dead in Serbia

Serbia’s customs authorities announced on Friday that they have discovered the bodies of nine migrants hiding among aluminum rolls in a truck headed to Poland from Greece.

According to the Associated Press, the young men from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria, were found by customs officers at the Serbian border with North Macedonia on Wednesday after their bodies were detected by a machine. 

Serbia is located on the Balkan land route, which is used by migrants to reach Western Europe from Turkey through Greece or Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Serbia. From Serbia, the migrants move on to EU member states such as Hungary, Croatia or Romania, or they go to Bosnia first and then on to Croatia.

Despite the dangers they face along the way, thousands of people fleeing violence or poverty travel through the Balkans every year, often aided by smugglers.