Syrian refugees face landmines in their quest for safety in Europe

Syrian refugees fleeing their war torn country are crossing areas riddled with landmines in Europe, experts have warned.

Following both Hungary and Croatia’s decisions to close their borders with large fences, refugees have been forced to reroute with the possible new escape being through Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

However, experts warn that Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia still have large numbers of mines from past wars that are yet to be defused.

According to the Bosnia-Herzegovina Mine Action Centre, the most dangerous locations in Bosnia are along the Sava River, which is the border between Bosnia and the cities of Croatia and Brcko, Orasje, Samac and Trebinje-Ravno on the border with Montenegro.

The centre told the Anadolu Agency that it was distributing maps of the minefields online so that refugees don’t come into harm’s way.

Bosnia has 1,417 minefields across 1,165 square kilometres of territory.

Croatia too has a large number of minefields. There are an estimated 50,000 mines within 496 square kilometres of fields in Croatia and the highest risk areas are along its two border points with Serbia and along the Bosnian border, according to the Croatian Mine Action Centre.