Fire breaks out at camp in Slovenia as migrants push forward

BREZICE, Slovenia (AP) — Freezing temperatures and burning tents heightened the misery of thousands of people pushing their way through Europe on Wednesday, hoping to find refuge at the end of their arduous treks.

The European Union’s executive, meanwhile, summoned leaders of the countries on the migrant trail to a summit in Brussels on Sunday in an effort to better coordinate the flow from one country to another.

A fire broke out on Wednesday at a camp for migrants in Slovenia, the current gateway to Austria and beyond. The cause of the fire at the camp in Brezice, on Slovenia’s border with Croatia, was not clear, but migrants had been lighting fires outside their tents to ward off the chilly fall weather.

Firefighters extinguished the flames which consumed several tents, while women and children were evacuated from the camp. Many of those at the Brezice camp arrived in the dark of night after wading or swimming across the Sutla River in temperatures close to freezing.

Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia have struggled to cope with the relentless flow of migrants traveling through the Balkans, their journey made more difficult since Hungary erected fences protected by razor wire, police and soldiers on its southern borders, forcing migrants to find new routes west.

Hungary closed its border with Serbia to the free flow of migrants on Sept. 15 and clamped down on its border with Croatia on Saturday. Since then, over 20,000 migrants have entered Slovenia from Croatia, with many thousands more on their way.

Early Wednesday, Slovenian lawmakers granted more powers to the army to work with police in managing the migrant influx along the borders of the small Alpine nation.

Further back, hundreds of migrants pushed into Croatia after spending the night out in the open in freezing cold, waiting to cross from Serbia.

Exhausted and chilled, migrants walked down the muddy border passage and over corn fields. Croatian police had deployed on the boundary to stop them but then moved away.

“I am sorry for Europe,” said Iraqi migrant Ari Omar in a field in Rigonce, Slovenia, on the border with Croatia. “We did not think Europe is like this. No respect for refugees, not treating us with dignity. Why is Europe like this?”

U.N. refugee agency officer Francesca Bonelli said around 3,000 migrants were there overnight, including little children, the elderly, people in wheelchairs and many sick and exhausted.

A statement from EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s office said Sunday’s summit was a response to “a need for much greater cooperation, more extensive consultation and immediate operational action.”

Nations invited to attend are EU member states Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia, and non-EU countries Macedonia and Serbia.

“The objective of the meeting will be to agree common operational conclusions which could be immediately implemented,” the EU Commission statement said.