One migrant died on Thursday, December 11th and several others were rescued—along with a suspected trafficker—after a boat capsized on a river along the Croatia-Bosnia border, police said.
According to a police statement, authorities received a report in the early hours that a vessel had overturned on the Sava River near Slavonski Brod, leaving several people in the water.
Emergency services were dispatched immediately and “pulled 13 foreign nationals from the cold river, one of whom showed no signs of life,” the statement added. A firefighting official later confirmed the fatality.
All those rescued, suffering from hypothermia, were taken to a hospital in Slavonski Brod, around 190 kilometres east of Zagreb.
A Bosnian national suspected of people trafficking was also taken to hospital and remains under police supervision.
Croatia is a major transit country for undocumented migrants attempting to reach the European Union via the Balkan route.
