Slovenia unrolls wire on Croatia border

Slovenia's army yesterday began rolling out razor wire along the border with Croatia, in a move the government says will help it better manage the influx of migrants.

Slovenia last month suddenly found itself on the Balkans route taken by thousands of migrants heading to northern Europe after Hungary sealed its borders with Croatia and Serbia.

Prime Minister Miro Cerar had announced on Tuesday that Ljubljana planned to build "obstacles" along parts of its frontier with Croatia, an outer border of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone.

"These obstacles, including fences if needed, will have the objective of directing migrants towards the border crossings. We are not closing our borders," Cerar had told a news conference.

Meanwhile, 18 migrants, among them at least seven children, drowned yesterday when their boats sank off Turkey's Aegean coast while trying to make the short but perilous crossing to Greece, the latest fatalities in Europe's refugee crisis.

In the deadliest incident, the coastguard said it recovered the bodies of 14 people from a wooden boat which was heading from the western province of Canakkale to the Greek island of Lesbos when it crashed into rocks and took on water.