The Croatian Ministry of Interior called on international and local non-governmental organisations providing humanitarian assistance to migrants along the Balkan route to inform migrants of the rules for legal entry into Croatia.

“Entry outside border crossing points is illegal and Croatia will not allow it. We want to prevent possible injury, freezing or serious harm to illegal migrants who attempt to enter Croatia illegally from other countries, primarily from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia,” the ministry said in a press release on Saturday evening.

It added that migrants, in attempts to reach their desired destinations in western Europe, sometimes expose themselves to situations with tragic outcomes. “This year the Ministry of the Interior has recorded nine cases of migrant deaths, which were due to drowning and hypothermia.”

The ministry said that Croatian police would persist in “consistently implementing national legislation to protect the state border, the acquis communautaire and the external border of the European Union, and the security of the citizens of Croatia and the European Union.”

It said that Croatian police had prevented 7,500 attempts at crossing the border illegally and arrested 547 people traffickers, warning that all measures and mechanisms provided for under Croatian and EU law would be used against anyone trying to prevent Croatian police in performing their duties of guarding the state border.