UPDATE CROATIA/SERBIA/HUNGARY Friday 21:30

UPDATE CROATIA/SERBIA/HUNGARY Friday 21:30

- Border crossing at Bapska / Šid is now free of refugees, some volunteer ready here in case there will be new buses from Serbia during the night. There has been some injuries reported during the day because of huge crowds at Bapska.

- New route has been reported by coratian media RTL, refugees are crossing border at Strošinci (CRO) / Jamena (SRB), near the border intersection Croatia/Serbia/Bosnia i Hercegovina, some 40 km south of Šid/Tovarnik area. They area approaching the area via Morovic. Some volunteers at place, but we have not direct confirmation about the situation yet, any report would be helpful.

- This area is reported to be dangerous for LANDMINES, their position could have changed during floods in past year. Keep on paved roads!!!

- According to experienced from previous nights, quick food, water, cash money, basic cheapest raincoats for 1 euro piece, jackets, warm clothes, man boots, SOCKS!, tarpaulins 8x6 meters, headlamps with batteries, garbage bags 200 litres - many of them, energy drinks are needed on such a places. No need to take tents, sleeping bags, blankets - because there is not enough places or time or manpower to pitch up tents, they also provide shelter only for few persoons, comparing to tarpaulins or large tents.

- When heading to area, head for the border at Batrovci/Bajakovo. From there, you can easily help at Strošinci, Sid, Tovarnik, or Bapska.

- 13 degrees and rain expected for night.

- Help in the area is coordinated by Jan Skalik, he has new number: +420 776 193 056. Now on the road to Jamena to assess situation. CALL ONLY WHEN TRYING TO LOCATE ON SITE



HUNGARY

Beremend / Barjansko Petrovo Selo / Magyarboly train station

This border crossing is served by volunteer team coordinated by Jakub Chromy +420 774 865 251. They are providing food, water and some basic needs to those refugees, who are being bussed to  Barjansko Petrovo Selo and move via Beremend to Magyarboly train station to be taken further.

There are reported 11 volunteers on site, they need need warm clothes, wet wipes and some money, as they buy water, bananas and other easy-to-give-out food on site.

- Border crossings Zakany - no actual info, if any of you does have, please let me know. It's been reported to be closed, but unconfirmed.

Other news:
- There is still possibility to get supplies in Szeged at MigSzol warehouse at Gárdonyi utca 6. If you are on the way via Hungary, you can go and pick up what will be needed. Always contact coordinator before approaching Szeged: Daniel Szatmary +36307093317, donations@irpeace.org

- If you are willing to donate money, you can use my paypal michal.berg@esports.cz and I will move the funds immediatelly to the people on site. Thanks to those who already donated, money are on their way to Serbia and Croatia.

- Entrance of the camp in Opatovac is served by several aid organizations and volunteers and situation is calm there, camp is half-empty now according to Croatian authorities.

- Border crossings Bajakovo and Tovarnik are now fully open to everyone.

- Border crossing Horgoš has seen first 300 refugees being transferred from Serbia to Hungary. It seems these countries agreed on transporting refugees in some way.

- Hungary continues with their efforts to build a fence at Croatian border, and also some kind of fence also on Slovenian border.

- There has been rumors about opening a new refugee route via Bosnia (Bijeljina and Zvornik), and maybe even via Albania and Montenegro. Croatian minister of interior said they don't want to spread panic, but they will be ready in Dubrovnik area and South Dalmacia.

- Serbian/Macedonian border is reported to be crossed by 3-4000 refugees daily.

- When traveling to help, always take headlight, reflexion vest (!!!it's really important, we have noted some problems identifying volunteers in recent days!!!), good shoes, protective gloves and warm clothes and be prepared for rain. And be careful!

- NOTE ABOUT SPREADING "URGENT" STORIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Please be careful when spreading any kind of unconfirmed news on social media. Please double check everything before sharing. Also ever include date, time and location of the situation. If any of these is missing, don't share it, as you may cause more harm than good.

I don't want to disgrace any calls for help, but please be careful when considering any situation "the worst anyone has ever seen". You don't know what are the experiences of that person, you don't know what is his level of acceptance the harshness of the situation and thus what someone could see worst ever could be just regular for someone else. As far as we know, there were just a few situation when real, live-threatening danger occurred in recent weeks (excluding sea), despite many situations could led and also led to many medical problems and/or injuries.

We are in constant contact with people in field and we are assessing the situation every few hours - with having history of Keleti, Roszke, Horgos and other places in mind.

And because any unconfirmed or biased information could make tens of people to move, we are trying to confirm everything - the more desperate it sounds, the more we are trying to confirm. Situation is changing rapidly, but if we see nothing really major happens in the field, we wait for regular update. We also may be wrong and provide some misleading information, but haven't experienced any major problems so far.

Situation is harsh for both refugees and volunteers, they are facing rain, cold and many other problems. But especially we, volunteers, need to stay calm to provide our help properly. Otherwise we will make more problems than we solve.

Thank you to bear this in mind. And thank you for your help!