Winter is coming, and 77,000 refugees are stuck in Greece and Serbia

Around 77,000 refugees are stuck in southeastern Europe since the Balkan route to Europe was closed at the beginning of the year, German authorities announced, Patria reports.

In Greece alone, there are 62,000 refugees, 15,000 of whom are on the islands in the Aegean Sea, the German newspaper Bild reported on Thursday.
However, despite the closure of the route, they are still managing to cross or bypass borders.

In Serbia, the number of asylum seekers trying to reach Europe has increased to 6,300, from 2,000 at the end of June.

Serbia lies on the Balkan route, a key path to Europe for people fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and other parts of the world. Most refugees are waiting there for an opportunity to cross the border into Croatia or Hungary.

Although Balkan countries and Austria closed the route in mid-February, 50,000 people have managed to reach Germany since then, Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said in September, quoting his German counterpart Angela Merkel, Index writes.