3 refugees drown trying to enter Macedonia

At least three refugees have died while trying to swim a river near the Greece-Macedonia border to enter the Balkan state.

A police spokeswoman in Macedonia said on Monday that they found the bodies of two men and a woman in the Suva Reka river earlier in the day.

“The case is under investigation, but so far it looks like they drowned while trying to enter Macedonia illegally,” said Natalija Spirova Kordic, Macedonia interior ministry spokeswomen.

Police also said authorities helped some 23 other refugees in the river and took them to a refugee camp in Macedonia.

Over 14,000 refugees, including children, are stranded on the Greek side of the border after Macedonia closed the border, which was the main route for refugees to reach western Europe.

Europe is facing its biggest refugee crisis since World War Two. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East have trekked across the Balkans route from Greece to northern Europe.