Eight dead bodies found after shipwreck in the Drine

Eight dead bodies were removed from the Drina River after the ship, on which several migrants sailed, sank last night during efforts to spend from Serbia to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Republican Civil Protection Administration Director in Republika Srpska Boris Trniniq confirmed to Radio Free Europe that the ship was flooded near the town of Tegara in the municipality of Bratunac in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“A part of the migrants survived, went ashore, while the rest were not”, he said, adding that the research is under way.

News of the ship's flooding was first given by Serbia's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Shortly after the report, members of Serbia's Police and Emergency Situation Department were sent to the scene.

In river and coastline research, the services of both countries are currently participating.

“According to migrants who have arrived on the shore, there have been about 25 people on the ship, while police and rescuers have found 18 people on the coast -- three of them children”, the Serbian Interior Ministry said.

According to data from the Zvornik Police Department in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it's about immigrants from Morocco.

Migrants were detained at the Zvornik Police Department, where they were interviewed.

Bosnia and Herzegovina border police also said about REL that people who tried to smuggle migrants are currently unknown.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina Prosecutor's Prosecutor's Office has all been announced and, currently, everything is being done to prove the facts and to take all measures and actions to whiteen this” event, the Bosnian border police statement says.

Serbia is part of the Balkan “path” through which migrants cross, on their journey to Western Europe.

In the last ten years, at least 40 migrants have lost their lives on the Drina River, who have made efforts to overcome it.

According to data from the Serbian Commissioner for Refugees and Migration (KIRS) last year, more than 100,000 migrants passed through Serbia, which is more than 12 percent less than in 2022.

The declining number of migrants has continued in 2024.

Serbian Commissioner for Refugees and Migration Natasa Stanissavevq has declared on August 2nd that the number of migrants has been 80 percent lower than in 1923 and that, as a result, some host centres are closing forever.