Bodies of Migrants Pulled from the Drina, Search Ongoing for Seven More Missing

(Patria) - A team from the Republika Srpska Civil Protection Administration for search and rescue on and under water has found eight bodies of migrants whose boat capsized today on the Drina River near Bratunac, out of a total of 15 missing.

As reported by a BHRT journalist, among those still being searched for is a mother with a baby. It is still unknown how many people drowned.

According to the 15 migrants who managed to swim to shore, this morning a boat carrying 30 of them capsized in the Drina River at the Orlica site.

"The Bratunac municipality alerted the RS Civil Protection Administration. Our search and rescue team on and under water from Bratunac immediately went to the Drina," the RS Civil Protection Administration stated.

The Zvornik Police Administration told Srna that the police detained 14 migrants who were determined to be from Morocco, who were being smuggled in one of the boats on the Drina near Bratunac, while the other boat capsized. It is assumed that the boats with migrants set off across the Drina from the area of the Ljubovija municipality.

The Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina also commented on this occasion.

"In the early morning hours, in the area of the Bratunac municipality, police officers of the Border Police of BiH, while carrying out regular state border surveillance activities, recorded an incident in which, for now, unknown persons from the territory of the Republic of Serbia attempted to smuggle a larger number of illegal migrants into Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to information available so far, at that moment a boat carrying a larger number of migrants capsized. The duty prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH has been informed of all the above, and at this moment everything is being done to establish the facts and all measures and actions are being taken to shed light on this event," the Border Police of BiH stated.