Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption James Reynolds reports on protests by migrants at the Hungary-Serbia border 
 
 Hungary has declared a state of emergency in two southern counties as tough new laws to stop migrants entering illegally came into force. 
 
 Police said they had arrested 60 people accused of trying to breach a razor-wire fence on the border with Serbia. 
 
 The state of emergency gives police extra powers and would allow troop deployments if parliament approves. 
 
 The EU is facing a huge influx of migrants, many fleeing conflict and poverty in countries including Syria. 
 
 Meanwhile, Germany and Austria are calling for a special meeting of EU leaders next week to discuss the crisis. 
 
 German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference that "this problem can only be solved together. It is a responsibility for the entire European Union". 
 
 The EU's border agency said more than 500,000 migrants had arrived at the EU's borders this year, compared with 280,000 in 2014. The vast majority have come by boat across the Mediterranean. 
 
 A boat following the most popular recent route, between Turkey and Greece, sank on Tuesday leaving 22 people dead, Turkish media reported. 
 
 Starting on Tuesday, the EU has agreed to relocate 40,000 migrants from Greece and Italy to other EU states. But it has yet to agree on mandatory quotas for a further 120,000 asylum seekers. 
 
 After the new Hungarian laws came into effect at midnight (22:00 GMT Monday), police sealed a railway crossing point that had been used by tens of thousands of migrants. 
 
 Around midday there were tense scenes as hundreds streamed towards the fence, some searching for a way through and others starting a sit-down strike, throwing down food and water in protest at not being granted passage. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Fergal Keane at the Hungarian border: "Police have been given extra powers under a state of emergency" 
 
 Follow Fergal Keane on the Hungary-Serbia border 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Hundreds have been waiting at the newly closed border fence 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Hungarian police have started to make arrests 
 
 Police buses will now take asylum applicants to registration centres, but if their applications are refused they will now be returned to Serbia rather than being given passage through Hungary, the BBC's Nick Thorpe reports from the border. 
 
 Hungarian authorities said more than 9,000 - a new record - crossed into the country before the border was closed on Monday. Some 20,000 crossed into Austria. 
 
 From Tuesday, anyone who crosses the border illegally will face criminal charges, and 30 judges have been put on standby to try offenders. 
 
 The laws also make it a criminal offence - punishable by prison or deportation - to damage the newly-built four-metre (13ft) fence along Hungary's 175km (110 mile) border with Serbia. 
 
 Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said "the official and legal ways to come to Hungary and therefore to the European Union remain open. That's all we ask from all migrants - that they should comply with international and European law." 
 
 Will Hungary's clampdown work? 
 
 Afghan boy's lonely start in Germany 
 
 What next for Germany's asylum seekers? 
 
 Caring for solo child refugees 
 
 Crisis explained in graphics 
 
 But the Serbian minister responsible for the migrant crisis, Aleksandar Vulin, argued the closure was unsustainable. "They will have to open the border," he said. 
 
 The European Commission said it was seeking clarification of parts of the new legislation, to check whether it is in line with EU asylum rules. 
 
 At talks in Brussels on Monday, a majority of states had agreed in principle to the idea of relocating a further 120,000 through mandatory quotas, and there was hope the proposal could be finally approved at a meeting on 8 October. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans said closing all borders to asylum seekers was ''unrealistic, populist and simply impossible'' 
 
 However, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have opposed the quotas. 
 
 "There was no consensus, several countries disagreed," Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak said after the talks. 
 
 German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Tuesday there should be ways of "exerting pressure" on states that refused binding quotas, possibly by reducing the amount of EU funding they receive. 
 
 But the Czech state secretary for the EU, Toma Prouza, said such threats were "empty but very damaging to all" 
 
 A spokeswoman from UN refugee agency, Melissa Fleming, said she expected migrant "chaos" to continue in the absence of more decisive action by the EU, with migrants seeking a new route. 
 
 Germany introduced temporary border controls on Monday. That slowed down the passage of migrants from Austria, where about 2,000 people slept in railway stations overnight. 
 
 Austria - one of several EU countries to say it would tighten border controls - is starting to deploy hundreds of troops to help the police deal with migrant arrivals. 
 
 The moves are a challenge to the EU's Schengen agreement on free movement, although the rules do allow for temporary controls in emergencies. ||||| Hungarian police officers guard the border at the Horgos border crossing into Hungary, near Horgos, Serbia, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. Hungary has declared a state of emergency in two of its southern counties... (Associated Press) 
 
 BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The latest developments as European governments rush to cope with the huge number of people moving across Europe. All times local (CET): 
 
 ___ 
 
 12:50 p.m. 
 
 Hungarian authorities say they detained 60 migrants for attempting to illegally enter the country's southern border with Serbia by breaching a razor-wire fence. 
 
 The detentions on Tuesday came as a set of new laws took effect that are meant to stop the huge flow of migrants through the country. 
 
 According to the new legislation, it is a felony to cross or damage to the 4-meter (13-foot) fence that the country has built along its southern border with Serbia. 
 
 Gyorgy Bakondi, homeland security adviser to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said authorities caught 45 people trying to cross at the southern border and 15 deeper in the country. They got across by damaging the fence and are now in police custody and are being charged with committing offenses under the new laws. Authorities are repairing the spots where the fence was damaged. 
 
 ___ 
 
 12 p.m. 
 
 The International Organization for Migration is predicting more deaths in the Aegean Sea and increased strains on Greece because of EU "indecision" about how to handle an influx of migrants and refugees to Europe. 
 
 IOM spokesman Leonard Doyle said Tuesday that decisions by some European countries to clamp down travel across their borders might have a "domino effect" and affect countries like Greece, where it's harder to stop people — mostly Syrian refugees — from crossing from the Turkish coast. 
 
 Some migrants have called into an anti-human trafficking phone hotline set up by IOM while they are treading water in the Aegean. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:50 a.m. 
 
 Turkish media say 22 people, including four children, have drowned after a 20-meter wooden boat sank off Turkey's coast. 
 
 The private Dogan agency said 211 people were rescued from Tuesday's sinking in international waters between Datca in Turkey and the Greek island of Kos. It wasn't immediately clear where the people were from, or what caused the sinking. 
 
 The incident comes two days after 34 people, including 15 children, drowned off the Greek island of Farmakonissi when the wooden boat they were on sank. Nearly 100 other people were rescued. 
 
 More than 250,000 people have entered Greece so far this year in an attempt to reach the more prosperous northern European countries. The vast majority are Syrian refugees making the perilous sea crossing from the nearby Turkish coast. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:35 a.m. 
 
 Hungary has declared a state of emergency in two of its southern counties bordering Serbia because of the migration crisis, giving special powers to police and other authorities. 
 
 Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said the decision was made at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting. 
 
 The measure also paves the way for the deployment of the army to assist police with border patrol and migrant-related duties — pending approval from parliament which is expected next week. 
 
 On Tuesday, Hungary began enforcing tougher rules on people entering the country illegally and also increased prison terms for convicted human traffickers. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:25 a.m. 
 
 Germany's vice chancellor says Europe has again made a fool of itself in the migration crisis and is calling for a summit soon of the 28-nation bloc's leaders. 
 
 EU interior ministers meeting Monday fell short of agreeing on the redistribution of 120,000 newcomers around the bloc — something that Germany, which has seen the biggest number of migrants, is keen to see. 
 
 Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Tuesday that "Europe made a fool of itself again yesterday." 
 
 He added: "Europe's heads of state and government must meet quickly, because this cannot peter out in such ministerial meetings so that we don't move one step further." 
 
 Gabriel said that "what we are experiencing now threatens Europe much more than the Greek crisis." 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:20 a.m. 
 
 Germany's interior minister says he doesn't plan to increase his official forecast that 800,000 migrants will arrive in the country this year, after the vice chancellor said 1 million newcomers were likely. 
 
 Thomas de Maiziere told ZDF television Tuesday: "I don't want to change the figures." He added that "anything you say here leads to a strange psychological effect." 
 
 De Maiziere said in mid-August that Germany could see as many as 800,000 migrants arriving this year, four times last year's number. He said Tuesday that, in Afghanistan, some took that to mean that Germany was introducing a quota of 800,000 and they had to rush to get in. 
 
 Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in a letter to members of his center-left party Monday that there could be a million arrivals. 
 
 ___ 
 
 10:10 a.m. 
 
 Germany's interior minister is backing the idea of cutting European Union funding to countries that refuse to share the burden of hosting refugees. 
 
 Several EU countries, particularly in the former Eastern bloc, have rejected calls from Germany and the EU's executive Commission for mandatory quotas to spread refugees out among the 28-nation bloc. 
 
 German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Tuesday there needs to be discussion of how to exert pressure. He told ZDF television that the countries rejecting quotas often receive significant amounts of EU funding. 
 
 He said that Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has suggested — "and I find that right" — that "we should talk about (them) getting less money from the structural funds." 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:50 a.m. 
 
 Hungarian police say two crossings on the border with Serbia have been closed to all traffic as stricter rules about the entry of migrants are applied. 
 
 Col. Laszlo Balazs said Tuesday that the measure affects the smaller of two border crossings near the village of Roszke and one checkpoint at the village of Asotthalom. 
 
 Balazs said he had "no information" about where migrants seeking to apply for asylum in Hungary would be let in. 
 
 Prime Minister Viktor Orban has indicated that asylum requests from migrants trying to enter Hungary from Serbia will be rejected because Serbia is a safe country where migrants do not risk war or persecution. 
 
 Some 200,000 migrants have reached Hungary so far in 2015, nearly all by walking across the southern border with Serbia. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:10 a.m. 
 
 The Hungarian government is expected to declare a state of emergency due to the large number of refugees and others who have been entering the country. 
 
 The state of emergency would allow the government to mobilize the army — pending parliamentary approval next week — to help police with border control, force courts to prioritize cases involving people caught entering Hungary illegally and give police the power to search homes without a warrant if they suspect migrants may be hiding there. 
 
 The Cabinet will make a decision about declaring the state of emergency at its meeting on Tuesday. Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview on Hungarian broadcaster TV2 that he expects the Cabinet to do so. 
 
 ___ 
 
 9:05 a.m. 
 
 Hundreds of migrants have spent a night in tents or out in the open on the Serbian side of the border with Hungary awaiting the opening of the crossing at Roszke, which was closed shortly after midnight. 
 
 Hundreds continue to arrive, though Serbian border guards say that the crossing into Hungary will no longer be open. Two official crossings will allow migrants to cross, but will only allow in those who have applied for asylum in Serbia. Those who have not will be returned to Serbia. 
 
 Serbian officials have said they will not accept migrants back from Hungary. ||||| Image copyright Reuters Image caption Migrants are crossing into Croatia where they are being registered 
 
 Croatia says it will allow migrants to travel on to northern Europe, opening up a new route a day after Hungary sealed its border with Serbia. 
 
 More than 150 migrants have crossed into Croatia from Serbia, with some of those stranded on Serbia's border with Hungary making a similar trip. 
 
 At the Serbia-Hungary border, Hungarian riot police have fired tear gas at migrants who were trying to break through a border post. 
 
 Many migrants want to reach Germany. 
 
 New border restrictions and a row over allocating migrants have exposed bitter divisions in Europe over the crisis. 
 
 The clashes at the Serbia-Hungary border on Wednesday afternoon occurred after police sealed a key crossing point near the town of Roszke. It has been used by tens of thousands of migrants to enter the European Union's Schengen zone, which allows people to travel between countries without restrictions. 
 
 The BBC's James Reynolds, at the scene, reports that migrants stranded on the Serbian side chanted "Open open", and threw plastic water bottles at the police, who forced the crowd back by firing tear gas. 
 
 More on the migrant crisis: 
 
 The refugees who chose Brazil over Europe 
 
 Five 'happy refugees' pictures that went viral 
 
 Crisis explained in graphics 
 
 The BBC's Lyse Doucet says buses, vans and cars have been taking migrants away from the Serbia-Hungary border area towards the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and the border with Croatia. 
 
 Hungary declared a state of emergency in the border area on Tuesday, with hundreds of army and police deployed to enforce new laws making it an offence to breach a razor-wire border fence. 
 
 The first trials of refugees detained for illegal border crossing have been held in the Hungarian city of Szeged. 
 
 Ahmed Suadi Talib, an Iraqi who was studying in Syria, was the first to be convicted under the new law, and was excluded from Hungary for one year. 
 
 Speaking through a translator, he told the court he had fled Syria to escape Islamic State. He entered Hungary via a hole in the border fence, he said, and did not know crossing into Hungary was illegal. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's James Reynolds is at the legal crossing point from Serbia into Hungary but says the door is currently locked 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Christian Fraser on the Hungarian side of the border fence notices some weak points. 
 
 The EU's border agency says more than 500,000 migrants have arrived at the EU's borders so far this year, compared with 280,000 in 2014. 
 
 Many are fleeing conflict and poverty in countries including Syria, where a civil war has been raging since 2011. 
 
 The migrants have been crossing from Turkey, with about 1,000 in the city of Edirne on Wednesday, waiting to organise a crossing into Greece. Their journey would then take them to Macedonia and Serbia. 
 
 Until Monday, most poured into Hungary and then crossed into Austria to reach Germany. Both Germany and Austria have introduced tighter border controls to control the flow. 
 
 Trains from the Austrian city of Salzburg to Germany have been halted, leading to a build-up of migrants at the city's station. Several hundred people have left the crowded station and are now walking towards Germany. 
 
 The UK is set to welcome the first Syrian refugees to be taken in under the government's expanded resettlement scheme "in the coming days, Home Secretary Theresa May has said. 
 
 The UK has pledged to take up to 20,000 refugees over the next five years. 
 
 At the scene: James Reynolds, BBC News, Serbia-Hungary border 
 
 Several hundred refugees and migrants are milling about here on the last few metres of Serbian territory. In front of them, the border gate into Hungary is locked. A line of Hungarian police wearing riot gear stands on the other side of a roll of razor wire. 
 
 "Open the gate, open the gate," chants a group of several dozen migrants and refugees. 
 
 One man half-scales the gate and begs the Hungarian police to let everyone in. But he gets no response. 
 
 Further back in the makeshift encampment, the atmosphere is much calmer. Volunteers distribute food and drink from vans. Next to a TV satellite truck, several people charge their smartphones. Refugee families rest in their tents. 
 
 "I will stay here forever," says Saleh, a law student from Damascus. "I can't go back." 
 
 Follow James Reynolds on Twitter 
 
 At the scene: Guy Delauney, BBC News, Serbia-Croatia border 
 
 Dozens of refugees walked through fields into Croatia from the official Serbian border crossing at Sid. 
 
 Several told me they were hoping to reach Slovenia and the Schengen area. Others shouted "Thank you, Serbia" as they left. 
 
 Croatian police vans were waiting for the group as they crossed the border. All of them boarded without a struggle. 
 
 Croatia says it is ready to receive migrants or "direct" them to where they want to go. 
 
 Serbian media say at least 10 buses were heading to the town of Sid, near the Croatian border, from Presevo near Serbia's southern border with Macedonia. 
 
 One of those who arrived on Wednesday, Amadou from Mauritania, told AFP news agency: "We heard that Hungary was closed so the police told us we should come this way." 
 
 Croatia's Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told parliament that authorities were "ready to receive or direct those people where they want to go. 
 
 "They will be able to pass through Croatia and we will help, we're getting ready for that possibility," he said. 
 
 Migrants have been crossing into Croatia on foot - avoiding the official border crossing point. Police are registering them before taking them to reception centres. 
 
 Croatian media have warned of the dangers posed by landmines dating back to Croatia's war of independence in the early 1990s, even though experts say the areas are clearly marked. 
 
 The Serbian minister in charge of the government's committee on migrants, Aleksandar Vulin, argued that the border closure by Hungary was unsustainable for his country. 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption The Hungarian border fence has left hundreds stranded in Serbia 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Migrants in Serbia are angry at the Hungarian border closure 
 
 Are you seeking refuge in Europe? Will you be heading to Croatia? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. 
 
 Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Austrian activist Angelika: "Politics has failed so we have to do something" 
 
 A convoy of cars driven by German and Austrian activists has crossed into Hungary to pick up migrants and help them reach western Europe. 
 
 Thousands - many of whom initially fled conflict in Syria - have made their way through Austria since Hungary removed restrictions on transit on Friday. 
 
 Buses and special trains have been taking them from the Hungarian border to Vienna and on to Germany. 
 
 The Pope said every Catholic parish in Europe should host a migrant family. 
 
 Speaking during the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis appealed for "every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary in Europe" to take in a family. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The border area is strewn with discarded belongings, as the migrants move into Austria 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The convoy taking migrants from Hungary to Austria is a private initiative 
 
 On Sunday a convoy of about 140 cars left Vienna for the Hungarian capital, Budapest, as part of a private initiative dubbed "refugeeconvoy" 
 
 One of the Austrian activists taking part, Angelika Neuwirth, told the BBC that their aim was to take them back to shelters in Austrian capital. 
 
 "I think this is my duty. I'm a mum, I'm a woman from Austria and I can't close my eyes anymore," she said. "We are all human. No-one is illegal." 
 
 However, Hungarian police spokeswoman Viktoria Csiszer-Kovacs said anyone taking migrants across the border was breaking the law. 
 
 Last week four Austrian activists who tried to do so were arrested for people smuggling but later released. 
 
 However, in the latest move a number of activists were able to collect migrants in Hungary without being stopped by police. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Drone footage filmed on Friday and Saturday shows the number of migrants prepared to walk to Austria 
 
 In other developments: 
 
 German officials say 11,000 asylum seekers arrived in the country on Saturday, with another 10,000 expected on Sunday 
 
 114 migrants have been rescued from a fishing boat off Cyprus - Syrians bound for Greece 
 
 UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said Britain "needs to do even more" to help Syrian refugees 
 
 David Miliband, a former British foreign minister who now heads the New York-based International Rescue Committee, urged the US to take in 65,000 Syrian refugees 
 
 After days of confrontation and chaos, Hungary opened its borders with Austria and bussed thousands of migrants to the frontier on Friday. 
 
 Many, frustrated at being prevented from boarding trains in Budapest, had begun to walk along a motorway towards Austria. 
 
 Many of the migrants had travelled north through the Balkans - Greece, Macedonia and Serbia - before arriving in Hungary. 
 
 Hundreds more crossed into southern Hungary from Serbia on Sunday, where they were taken to a processing centre. 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Thousands more migrants arrived in Germany by train on Sunday 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Locals have welcomed Latifah al-Dobah and her family to their new home in Germany, as Murad Shishani reports 
 
 Germany, Austria, and Hungary have said the decision to allow migrants through is aimed at averting a humanitarian crisis, and will not set a precedent. 
 
 "Now, step by step, we must move away from emergency measures to lawful and humane normality," Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann reaffirmed on Sunday. 
 
 EU rules requiring refugees to apply for asylum in the first country they land in "are still valid", a German government spokesman said. 
 
 However, in August Germany waived the rule on asylum seekers from Syria, allowing them to register in Germany regardless of where they first entered the EU. 
 
 Germany expects to take in 800,000 people this year. Syrians are the largest group travelling, followed by Afghans and Eritreans. 
 
 At the scene: Matthew Price, BBC News 
 
 BBC reporters on Twitter 
 
 There is little sign of a co-ordinated EU response to the crisis, despite more than 350,000 migrants having crossed the EU's borders in 2015 alone. 
 
 Germany, backed by the European Commission, has been pushing for a quota system for sharing out newcomers between EU member states. 
 
 But this has been opposed by several eastern members. 
 
 On Saturday, Hungary said that while it had temporarily relaxed restrictions on the transit of asylum seekers, it was pressing ahead with plans to tighten border controls and could send troops to its southern frontier if parliament agreed. 
 
 A border fence is due to completed by 15 September. 
 
 Migrant boy remembered 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption White balloons were released in the memory of Alan and Ghalib 
 
 A memorial has been held in Vancouver, Canada for three-year-old Alan Kurdi, his brother Ghalib and mother Rehanna, who drowned trying to reach the Greek island of Kos. The three have family in Canada. 
 
 Pictures of Alan's body, washed up on a Turkish beach, prompted widespread anguish. 
 
 Members of the Kurdi family were joined by more than 100 people to remember the three Syrians, who died on the journey to Europe after fleeing the conflict in their home country. Canada had earlier rejected an asylum application on behalf of the family. 
 
 Tima Kurdi, the boys' aunt, said she was worried about their father Abdullah, who attended the burial for his family in Syria on Friday. 
 
 "He's not leaving the graves. He was sleeping the last three days there, on the ground, beside them." 
 
 The story of Alan Kurdi's family 
 
 A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants. 
 
 Are you among those trying to reach Austria and Germany? Have you been involved in these events? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experience. 
 
 Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: ||||| Image copyright Reuters Image caption Migrants are crossing into Croatia where they are being registered 
 
 The first group of migrants has reached Croatia - opening up a new route to northern EU countries, a day after Hungary sealed its border with Serbia. 
 
 About 150 migrants crossed into Croatia, an EU member, from Serbia. 
 
 Croatia says it is ready to receive them or "direct" them to where they want to go. Many migrants - mainly Syrian - are hoping to reach Germany. 
 
 New border restrictions and a row over allocating migrants have shown bitter divisions in Europe over the crisis. 
 
 More on the migrant crisis: 
 
 The refugees who chose Brazil over Europe 
 
 Five 'happy refugees' pictures that went viral 
 
 Crisis explained in graphics 
 
 Hundreds of migrants remain stranded outside or in makeshift tents near the Serbian border with Hungary. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's James Reynolds is at the legal crossing point from Serbia into Hungary but says the door is currently locked 
 
 On Tuesday, Hungary declared a state of emergency in the border area, with hundreds of army and police deployed to enforce new laws making it an offence to breach a razor-wire border fence. 
 
 Police sealed a railway crossing point near Roszke which had been used by tens of thousands of migrants to enter the European border-free Schengen zone. 
 
 The move has all but stopped the inflow. On Wednesday, Hungarian police said they had detained 367 migrants entering illegally - and the first criminal proceedings have been launched. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Christian Fraser on the Hungarian side of the border fence notices some weak points. 
 
 The EU's border agency says more than 500,000 migrants have arrived at the EU's borders so far this year, compared with 280,000 in 2014. 
 
 Many are fleeing conflict and poverty in countries including Syria, where a civil war has been raging since 2011. 
 
 The migrants have been crossing from Turkey, with about about 1,000 in the city of Edirne on Wednesday, waiting to organise a crossing into Greece. Their journey would then take them to Macedonia and Serbia. 
 
 Until Monday, most poured into Schengen member Hungary and crossed into Austria to reach Germany. Both Germany and Austria have introduced tighter border controls to control the flow. 
 
 'We will help' 
 
 A group of about 40 migrants arrived in the border town of Sid in Serbia on Wednesday. They had travelled by bus from the Serbian town of Presevo near the Macedonian border in the south. 
 
 "We heard that Hungary was closed so the police told us we should come this way," Amadou, 35, from Mauritania told AFP news agency. 
 
 "We don't know what we should do now. Do we have to catch a boat?" 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Croatia says it will receive the migrants or facilitate their journey onwards 
 
 They crossed into Croatia where police began registering them. 
 
 Croatia's Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told parliament that authorities were "entirely ready to receive or direct those people where they want to go, which is obviously Germany or Scandinavian countries". 
 
 "They will be able to pass through Croatia and we will help, we're getting ready for that possibility," he said. 
 
 A meeting of the Croatian National Security Council has been called to co-ordinate the response. 
 
 Croatian media have warned of the dangers posed by landmines dating back to Croatia's war of independence in the early 1990s, even though experts say the areas are clearly marked. 
 
 Serbia worried 
 
 The Serbian minister in charge of the government's working committee on migrants, Aleksandar Vulin, argued that the closure of the border by Hungary was unsustainable for Serbia. 
 
 He told the BBC's Lyse Doucet that contact between Serbian and Hungarian officials had been minimal. 
 
 Analysis: BBC's Guy Delauney, Belgrade 
 
 All year, Serbia has taken a relaxed attitude towards the migrants and refugees entering from neighbouring Macedonia. 
 
 The authorities understood that few of the people coming in would want to stay, although some expressed regret that people desperately fleeing conflict did not view Serbia as a desirable destination. 
 
 But Hungary's fence and its criminalisation of unofficial border crossings has brought a halt to the flow of people across Serbia. 
 
 If an exit into Hungary becomes impossible, the number of refugees here may begin to rise, challenging not only the country's capacity for dealing with asylum seekers but its citizens' hitherto admirable tolerance and empathy. 
 
 Serbian alarm over stranded migrants 
 
 Hungary has also said it could extend its fence to the border with Romania - a possible new route. 
 
 Romania said this would violate the "European spirit" of co-operation. 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption The Hungarian border fence has left hundreds stranded in Serbia 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Migrants are angry at the Hungarian decision which has all but stopped the flow
– More than 500 migrants have been detained for illegally entering Hungary or breaching a border fence, with nearly 50 criminal cases on the books since new laws took effect yesterday, the New York Times reports, while the BBC notes that Hungarian riot police today fired tear gas at migrants trying to break through the border with Serbia. And as restrictions tighten, migrants are seeking other ways into Western Europe through Slovenia and Croatia, as well as through Hungary's border with Romania. Issues remain: Hungary’s poorer neighbors may be ill-equipped to handle the flow, and there are areas peppered with land mines, remnants of the Balkan Wars. While solutions are sought, thousands spent last night in a Vienna train station, per the Times, while at least 22 migrants drowned yesterday in the Aegean Sea, the Post notes—a sad repeat of a similar incident a couple of days earlier. Leaders of neighboring nations are scrambling to come up with their own plans for dealing with the influx, which is no small task: The EU border agency notes a head count of 500,000 migrants at EU nations' entry points so far in 2015; last year that number was around 280,000, the BBC reports. Many are refugees fleeing high-conflict areas such as Syria and Iraq, per the Washington Post, which adds there's a noted "absence of a coordinated policy for the unprecedented influx." "Barbed wire in Europe in the 21st century is not an answer, it's a threat," Croatia's PM says, per the Post, adding that Croatia would "accept and direct" migrants through his country. An Egyptian billionaire who says he wants "to clear my conscience as a human being" has come up with an even more creative stopgap for the Syrian refugees involved: hosting them on two available Greek islands, using a joint-stock company to accept donations, Bloomberg reports. (The US is trying to help out.)