Thousands of migrants race to catch last trains into backdoor of Europe before Hungary completes border fence
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Scores of desperate migrants from the Middle East and North Africa have been pictured sitting on railway tracks in Macedonia - a country that is fast becoming a hub for illegal migration into Europe from all over the world.
Waiting for trains that will continue their journey through Serbia and Hungary on to wealthier western European nations like Germany and France, the migrants were photographed at a train station in the town of Gevgelija, on the Macedonian-Greek border.
Struggle: Migrants arrive from Greece at Gevgelija train station in Macedonia. After walking across the border into Macedonia to the small local station of Gevgelia, migrants pile onto an overcrowded four-carriage train in sweltering heat
Situated as it is in the heart of eastern Europe, Macedonia sees migrants arrive from numerous locations - with the majority arriving via land through Bulgaria and Turkey having fled war torn nations like Syria and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile African migrants coming to Macedonia will already have faced the horrors of crossing the Mediterranean Sea on board dangerously overcrowded and dilapidated boats run by people-smuggling gangs based in North Africa.
Arriving from Greece, these migrants quickly make their way to the border with southern Macedonia.
Still more arrive from Macedonia's poverty-stricken neighbour Albania.
Wherever they have come from, few migrants plan on staying in Macedonia for very long, moving through the 26 European countries that make up the Schengen Area - nations that have abolished passport and border control at their shared borders.
Having caught the Serbia-bound train from Gevgelija, the migrants easily pass through Hungary and the Czech Republic into Germany and France.
While some of the migrants end their journey in these wealthy Western nations, many continue on to Calais - where they will join thousands of others currently living in the squalid Jungle migrant camp and making nightly raids on the Channel Tunnel, which they hope to use to pass into Britain.
On Monday Hungarian soldiers started building a 109-mile long fence along the border with Serbia, in an effort meant to stop the rising flow of migrants trying to enter the European Union.
On the outskirts of the southern village of Asotthalom, soldiers were using heavy machinery to drive metal rods into the ground, the first steps in the construction of the nearly 13-foot high fence, which the government wants to finish by August 31 along the border.
On July 16, government officials had presented a 164-yard sample section of the fence at the border, built to test different construction techniques and materials, but construction began in earnest earlier this week.
Migrant routes: Situated as it is in the heart of eastern Europe, Macedonia sees migrants arrive from numerous locations - with the majority arriving via land through Bulgaria and Turkey having fled war torn nations like Syria, Afghanistan and Libya
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