At least 5 migrants drown after their boat overturns while crossing a river from Serbia to Bosnia

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — At least five people drowned after a boat carrying migrants overturned while crossing the Drina river from Serbia to Bosnia, officials in the two Balkan countries said Thursday.

Serbian police received a call around 5 a.m. from their counterparts in Bosnia and a citizen who reported the accident, said Interior Minister Ivica Dacic.

Dacic said that 18 migrants, including three children, managed to cross into Bosnia, out of 25 people who were in the boat when it overturned.

Serbia’s state television RTS later quoted officials in Bosnia as saying that five bodies had been found in the river by early afternoon. Bosnian emergency official Boris Trninic said there were about 30 people in the boat, 15 of whom reached safety, RTS reported.

It was not immediately possible to confirm the exact number of people on the boat.

Migrants using the so-called Balkan land route in their efforts to reach Western Europe come to Serbia from Bulgaria or North Macedonia before moving on to Hungary, Croatia or Bosnia.

To reach wealthy European countries, people fleeing wars and poverty often turn to people smugglers to take them across borders without authorization.