Millions more Syrians could head for Europe

UN warns of huge influx of refugees fleeing ‘hell’

MILLIONS more Syrians could come to Europe to seek asylum, a United Nations agency chief predicted yesterday.

More than 430,000 refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to reach Europe this year, official figures show.

But Peter Salama, Unicef’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, predicted there will be a further massive influx of refugees unless the bloody Syrian war ends.

He said: ‘There could be millions and millions more refugees leaving Syria and ultimately going to the European Union and beyond.’

A record 432,761 refugees and migrants are estimated to have made the journey across the Mediterranean to Europe this year, the Geneva- based International Organisation for Migration said yesterday. Many were packed into rubber dinghies, with about 2,750 drowning. By contrast, only 197,940 people made the dangerous sea crossing in the whole of last year.

Half of those crossing this year have been fleeing Syria’s devastating civil war, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). About 240,000 Syrians have died in the conflict in the past four and a half years. Mr Salama said Syria had become a ‘living hell’ that people were desperate to escape.

But there was debate last night among UN experts over how many Syrians are likely to seek asylum in the EU. UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said: ‘We are far yet from millions. I think we should be very careful about inflating the numbers.’

Almost 8 million people are displaced within Syria, and another 4 million are registered as refugees in neighbouring countries, primarily Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

The UNHCR is trying to help the countries dealing with the crisis at the edge of the EU. The agency is sending prefabricated homes to provide temporary overnight shelter for 300 families in Hungary. Fifty pre-fab family homes have also arrived in the Greek island of Lesbos, 300 are being sent to Kos, and 50 have arrived in Macedonia.

Meanwhile, Austria partially shut a highway linking Vienna and Hungary yesterday, citing security concerns. Austria’s rail link to Hungary will also remain shut over the weekend because of ‘massive over-burdening’ by migrants.

Hungary is racing to construct a fence along its border with Serbia by early next month in an attempt to stem the tide.