40 injured as van packed with migrants overturns

40 injured as van packed with migrants overturns

LESKOVAC -- A traffic accident early on Tuesday on a highway near the town of Leskovac, southern Serbia, left some 40 people injured, 20 of whom seriously.

The public broadcaster RTS is reporting that a vehicle transporting migrants turned over near the village of Donje Krajince at around 05:00 CET this morning.

Five migrants have life-threatening injuries to their spinal cords and brain, the doctors in the town of Leskovac have said.

According to initial reports, the migrants came from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Syria. They illegally entered Serbia and were likely headed toward the country's northern border with Hungary, hoping to reach the EU.

The Leskovac police said that the number of people traveling in the van is still unknown, and that those injured were receiving treatment in Leskovac and in Nis.

The wreckage of the vehicle could be seen this morning in a field some 100 meters away from the road. According to unofficial information, the cause of the accident was speeding.

The police also announced they were looking for the driver who had fled the scene. But the N1 broadcaster said that the man, "from Kosovo and Metohija", had suffered a heart attack and was treated in hospital.