Backlog builds in Balkans

A column of around 40 buses packed with migrants queued to enter Croatia from Serbia yesterday, their passage to western Europe slowed by a new diversion through Slovenia as weather conditions worsen.

Many had spent the night on the buses, wrapped in warm clothes and blankets against the autumn cold. They woke to dense fog.

“This part of the trip has lasted 20 hours, and we've been here for almost 12 hours,” said Khair, 40, a former sales manager from the Syrian capital, Damascus. “What can we do? We're here and we have to wait.”

Hungary sealed its southern border with Croatia to migrants at midnight on Friday, forcing them west to fellow EU member Slovenia, reports Reuters.

meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday praised a "better approach" from the European Union in sharing the burden of the refugee crisis, following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Istanbul.

"Unfortunately Turkey was left alone by the international community in terms of burden sharing. We are very pleased there is a better approach now. The issue of sharing going forwards is very important," said Davutoglu.

Some 3,000 entered Slovenia on Saturday, en route to Austria and Germany, the favored destination of the vast majority, many of them Syrians fleeing war.

But Slovenian authorities said they planned to limit the influx to around 2,500 per day in line with the country's capacity to register and accommodate them.

That threatened to create a backlog in Croatia and Serbia which in recent weeks have seen upwards of 5,000 crossing their borders every day.

The Greek coastguard yesterday said five more migrants including a baby and two boys had died trying to cross the Aegean Sea from neighbouring Turkey.