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WORLD NEWSFriday 11 September 2015
Migrants’ long and winding road to Europe turns cold, muddy
SHAWN POGATCHNIK And yet nothing could Migrants in plastic raincoats rest near a makeshift camp for asylum seekers in Roszke, southern
Associated Press dampen their hopes of Hungary, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — reaching the heart of Eu-
Soaked to the bone and rope, where asylum and (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
ankle deep in mud, thou- border security systems are
sands of people seeking already in danger of being
refuge in Europe are find- overwhelmed in the migra-
ing that their path to a new tion crisis.
life is growing harder by the “I’m not going to be afraid
hour. of anything,” said Waseem
Torrential rains poured as Absi, a 30-year-old from
an unprecedented 7,000 Ariha in northern Syria, as
trekkers crossed the Greek he held a disassembled
border into Macedonia pup tent over his head and
on Thursday past rows of trudged up a muddy slope
camouflage-jacketed po- alongside four friends. He
lice. Children stumbled into said he hopes to reunite
mud-filled potholes and with relatives in the Nether-
had to be pulled back out, lands.
bawling, into their moth- The sudden onset of au-
ers’ arms. People struggled tumn has taken tens of
to find anything — plas- thousands by surprise all
tic sheets, garbage bags, along the Balkans route
even a beach umbrella — from Greece to Hungary,
to shield themselves from the main gateway to West-
an unrelenting deluge. ern Europe for more than
160,000 asylum seekers al- by ducking under the ra- We can’t get rid of them,”
ready this year. zor-wire marking that fron- said Gabor Gyurko, a vol-
As recently as last week, tier. Garbage-strewn fields unteer for the Catholic
those making the epic jour- turned to mud, trapping charity Caritas, which is
ney, much of it on foot, relief agency trucks whose providing medical care at
were baking in a region- wheels spun and flecked a police-supervised collec-
wide heat wave and free passing migrants with sod- tion point. Medics gave first
to sleep under the stars. den earth. aid to several mothers and
Now they’re without shel- With Hungary and other their children and covered
ter and struggling to keep nations providing few facil- them with thermal blan-
campfires burning, high- ities on their borders, trav- kets.
lighting the inadequate elers have poured into the Gyurko said he expected
support provided by sever- few tents erected recently the volume of ill people
al European governments by relief workers trying to to surge with the chilly,
at each border crossing. compensate for the lack of wet weather “especially
Conditions also rapidly de- government support. among people living in
teriorated on Hungary’s “The medical tent is full such close quarters.”
southern border with Ser- of people — people who
bia, where an estimated aren’t actually sick, by Continued on page 27
3,000 crossed at an ap- the way, but just want a
proved rail site or illegally warm place to sit down.
Netherlands: aid worker released in Kabul
THE HAGUE, Netherlands seized June 22 by armed cumstances of her release.
(AP) — The Dutch foreign men in Kabul, was “do- Koenders told Dutch
minister says an aid worker ing well under the circum- broadcaster NOS that the
kidnapped in June in Af- stances” after her release government had no direct
ghanistan has been re- and has spoken to her fam- contact with the kidnap-
leased after 81 days and is ily from the Dutch Embassy. pers but was in close con-
in good health. It remains unclear who kid- tact with Afghan authori-
Foreign Minister Bert Ko- napped the experienced ties and the aid agency
enders said Thursday night aid worker, and Koenders she worked for about De
that Anja de Beer, who was didn’t comment on the cir- Beer.q
