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Bosnia Finds Severely Frostbitten Sudanese Refugees

Moatinoon

Source: balkaninsight.com
Bosnian police confirmed to BIRN on Wednesday that they had launched an investigation after three gravely injured Sudanese refugees were found near Bihac in northwest Bosnia near the border with EU-member Croatia.

Nihad Suljic, founder of the association DjelujBa!, which assists migrants and refugees, said the injured Sudanese nationals are currently being treated at the Clinical Centre in Tuzla.

“All three have had their legs amputated, and two of them … have also had their hands amputated. We are trying to help them because they … now … cannot function independently without assistance,” said Suljic, who alerted the public to the case on the association’s Facebook page.

The three Sudanese refugees, without shoes or adequate clothing, were spotted near Bihac in late-November by local residents, who alerted the police, Una-Sana Canton Interior Minister Adnan Habibija told BIRN.

“They said they had been … attempting to cross the state border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, when they were caught in severe weather conditions and suffered frostbite. Emergency medical services from the Bihac Health Centre were then notified and immediately transported them to the Cantonal Hospital … in Bihac,” Habibija said in a telephone interview.

He added that the Una-Sana Canton Prosecutor’s Office was investigating the exact circumstances. The Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to BIRN’s inquiry about the case by time of publication.

Bosnia forms a key part of the so-called Balkan refugee route, used by people attempting to reach the European Union.

The International Organization for Migration’s website says that around 12,500 refugee entries into the country were recorded in the first 11 months of 2025. There are no official data on the number of migrants and refugees who have gone missing or died along the Balkan route.

But a 2023 investigation co-authored by BIRN identified more than 1,000 unmarked migrant graves along Europe’s borders.

The conflict in Sudan, which began in 2023 between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces, has claimed thousands of lives and has created a humanitarian crisis. Almost 15 million Sudanese people have been internally displaced or have fled the country, including nearly 4 million children.