Local media reported that the death toll had risen to 11 after a boat of migrants capsized as it tried to cross from Serbia into Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Zlatan Simic, the head of the local firefighting team in the eastern Bosnian city of Bratunac told Srna, the news agency, that 11 bodies had been discovered after the incident on Thursday.

Bosnian authorities announced on Thursday that the boat overturned while illegally crossing the border. Divers, firefighters, Bosnian and Serbian Border Police, civil defence rescue teams and Bosnian and Serbian Border police were deployed along the river’s forested bank.

Rescuers recovered a number bodies, including those of nine-month-old baby and her mother.

Boris Trninic, Civilian Defense director at Srna, told Srna Thursday that the unofficial estimate of 30 people in the boat was given by Boris Trninic.

The Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migrations reported that 18 people, including 10 minors and six unaccompanied minors, had been rescued. It said that the majority appeared to be Syrians.

Bosnian authorities confirmed that they have provided refugee to 15 survivors.

Every year, thousands of people from the Middle East (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Africa) use the so-called Balkan Route, which runs through Turkey, Bulgaria and North Macedonia to reach wealthy Western nations.

Officials say that many migrants are smuggled across borders by smuggler networks and that accidents happen frequently.

(source: Reuters)