Nearly 150 migrants have been stranded in a passenger train that arrived on Friday morning to the northwestern Bosnian city of Bihac, as local authorities refuse to allow them to disembark, citing fears that bringing in new arrivals would put even more strain on the already poor humanitarian situation.

The migrants were put on train and sent to Bihac in Sarajevo.

“There were originally 153 migrants in the train, 146 of them are currently in it,” local police spokeswoman, Snezana Galic, told the Patria news agency.  

Seven migrants who were classified as belonging to the “vulnerable category” – a term which normally includes children – were taken off the train placed at a migrant centre in Bihac, Galic added.

Since early 2018, thousands of migrants from the Middle East have entered Bosnia hoping they would reach wealthy EU countries. The country has since become a popular transit station for them, after several surrounding countries had closed off their borders, leading to some local officials to refer to Bosnia as a “migrant hotspot.” 

The migrants usually travel towards northwestern Bosnia, hoping they would cross into Bosnia’s western neighbour Croatia, and then cut across the narrowest stretch of Croatia’s territory in order to reach Slovenia. Although both Croatia and Slovenia are EU member countries, only Slovenia is a member of the EU’s passport-free Schengen travel area, which is thought to be their main goal.

However, Croatian border police often turn them away and send them back to Bosnia. This is creating a humanitarian crisis in the northwestern Bosnian towns of Bihac, Cazin, and Velika Kladusa, all located near Croatia’s border.

In response, local authorities in Bihac said they would block any further arrivals of migrant sent from Sarajevo.  

“Negotiations on having them return to Sarajevo are ongoing,” Galic said.  

The mayor of Bihac, Suhret Fazlic, said that the accommodation capacity to temporarily house migrants in Bihac are already maxed out.    

“We ask that train transfers of migrants from Sarajevo to Bihac cease, and for the Bosnian border police to stop the uncontrolled entries of migrants from Croatia into our territory,” he said.

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