Croatian police on Monday saved 16 migrants from a swollen Danube, with one police vessel almost sinking in the rescue operation, Osijek-Baranja County police have reported.

Early on Monday morning, border police in Beli Manastir and Dalj received a distress call in a foreign language and launched a search with three patrol boats.

The police found 16 people hanging on to branches in a forest flooded by the Danube River which has swollen due to the recent heavy rainfall, and they proceeded to pull them out of the water and into the police vessels.

Apart from suffering hypothermia, the migrants were not injured.

During the rescue mission, a large boat passed along the river causing a big wave and water entered one of the police boats, partially sinking it. The vessel will have to be pulled out of the water and tugged to the port, the police reported.