11,000 Migrants Enter Austria, More Coming


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Austrian officials said Sunday that 11,000 migrants crossed into the country from Hungary in the 24-hour period that ended on midnight Saturday, as European governments rush to cope with the huge number of people moving across Europe.

The country's interior ministry said that another 7,000 are expected Sunday at the main Nickelsdorf crossing, east of Vienna, The Associated Press reported.

Ministry officials are meeting with charity organizations to try and find temporary shelter for the new arrivals, who are fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Meanwhile, coast guard officials said 13 migrants have died after their boat collided with a ferry off the Turkish coast.

Turkey's coast guard agency said in a statement on its website that it intervened after being alerted that a commercial vessel hit a migrant boat off the western port city of Canakkale and that bodies were in the water.

An official at the agency says that eight people had been rescued following Sunday's incident. He said search-and-rescue operations were ongoing.

Further details about the crash were not immediately available.

Hungary has reopened its main border crossing with Serbia after sealing it off five days earlier to prevent migrants from entering its territory.