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Fire engulfs migrant centre in Bosnia, injuring 29

Bosnian police say a fire has engulfed a migrant centre in the northwest of the country, injuring at least 29 people.

Video footage showed people jumping out through windows

The Associated Press ·
A group of migrants attempting to cross into Croatia hold banners as they gather near the Maljevac border crossing, Velika Kladusa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Oct. 25, 2018. About 25,000 people from Asia and North Africa entered Bosnia from Serbia and Montenegro last year, and about 6,000 have arrived in the impoverished Balkan country this year, according to Bosnia's security agencies. (Fehim Demir/EPA-EFE)

Bosnian police say a fire has engulfed a migrant centre in the northwest of the country, injuring at least 29 people.

Police say the fire erupted early Saturday in the centre located in Velika Kladusa, which hosts hundreds of migrants stuck in the Balkan country while trying to move toward Western Europe.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Local media aired video footage showing people jumping out through the windows amid thick gray smoke surging from the building.

Police say 29 migrants have been taken to nearby hospitals for checkup and treatment.

Several thousand migrants fleeing war and poverty in their countries have been passing through Bosnia toward the West. They mostly flock to the northwest that borders European Union member Croatia.

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