by Our Foreign Desk

DOZENS of desperate refugees seeking a new life in Europe perished at the weekend in the waters off Greece and Turkey.

Thirteen people drowned yesterday after their boat collided with a ferry off the Turkish coast, while the Greek coastguard fanned out in the Aegean Sea searching for another 27 people missing after their vessel sank off the island of Lesbos.

Another 29 people were rescued in the two incidents, which followed another sinking near Lesbos on Saturday, in which a five-year-old girl drowned.

Between 10 and 12 people are still missing in the sea round the island.

The tragedies made clear the deadly risks those fleeing war and desperation in the Middle East, Africa and Asia are willing to take in the hope of reaching sanctuary in Europe.

Hungary’s decision to shut its border with Serbia on September 15 set off a chain reaction in Croatia and Slovenia that has forced people fleeing violence in their homelands to rush from one European border to the next as they desperately try to find their way north before the rules change again.

Thousands are on the move all over south-eastern Europe as authorities struggle to respond.

Around 11,000 people crossed from Hungary into Austria on Saturday, with at least another 7,000 doing so yesterday.

Political leaders in the region are sniping at one another, underscoring the sense of crisis and disarray.

After completing a razor-wire fence along the border with Serbia, Hungary is now building fences along its borders with Croatia and Romania.

After lashing out at Croatian officials, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto traded barbs with his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Aurescu over the fence.

He reacted to Mr Aurescu’s description of Budapest’s border closure as an “autistic and unacceptable act” that violated the spirit of the European Union by sneering that he would “expect more modesty from a foreign minister whose prime minister is currently facing trial.”

He claimed that Hungary had had to defend itself and Europe in its 1,000-year history, adding: “That’s the way it’s going to be now, whether the Romanian foreign minister likes it or not.”