42 refugees saved at the last minute near Novska in Croatia, suffocating in an overcrowded van

Emergency medical teams treated 42 men in several hospitals on Saturday evening, most likely refugees, who were found in very poor health in a van during a routine traffic stop on the A3 highway near Novska in Croatia, reported HINA.

All refugees were treated at the hospital in Sisak, some in Nova Gradiška, in Zagreb, and three each in Slavonski Brod and Pakrac.

Police discovered the refugees after they had inhaled carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless, and tasteless poisonous gas, which led to their poor health condition, with some losing consciousness.

- They were seriously endangered but began to recover once they got fresh air - said the head of the Croatian Institute for Emergency Medicine, Maja Grba Buljević, to Hina.

- According to her, the patients are out of danger, but it will take time for them to recover - she added.

The truck with foreign license plates, carrying about 50 men, was stopped by the Sisak-Moslavina traffic police on Saturday evening. It is assumed that the passengers are refugees from Arab countries who illegally crossed the Croatian border. Twenty-two medical teams from the Sisak-Moslavina, Brod-Posavina, and Zagreb counties participated in their treatment, reports NAP.