Police have rescued 12 illegal migrants held in the storage compartment of a camper van in the Glina area, about 80 kilometres south of Zagreb, Sisak-Moslavina County Police said in a statement on Friday.

They included three men, two women and seven children, who were all in bad shape and the police “probably saved their lives”, the statement said.

They were all tired and exhausted and were immediately given medical attention. They were found in a camper van bearing Polish licence plates during a police check on Sunday February 23 in the village of Prekopa near Glina.

The migrants, all Iraqi nationals, are two families who entered the country illegally and have announced that they will apply for international protection. Five members of one family have been accommodated at the reception centre for asylum seekers in Kutina, while seven members of the other family have been put up in a similar facility in Zagreb.

The van’s driver, a 36-year-old Pole and his 34-year-old female companion were arrested for illegally entering the country and were placed in police custody.

Last Friday, near the village of Mlaka in Jasenovac municipality, about 100 kilometres southeast of Zagreb, 19 Iraqi nationals, including five men, six women and eight children, were caught after illegally crossing the border from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Those in poor condition were taken by ambulance to hospital in Pakrac and Sisak. They all said they would formally apply for international protection, and after being discharged from hospital, they have been accommodated in the reception centre for asylum seers in Zagreb.