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Dozens feared dead in migrant boat accidents

Migrants on Sunday swam toward the island of Lesbos in Greece. Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press

ATHENS — Disasters at sea claimed the lives of more migrants Sunday, with dozens feared dead in accidents off the coasts of Turkey and Greece. In Austria, about 15,000 more migrants crossed into the country from Hungary and Croatia, with no letup in sight for the influx.

Thirteen migrants trying to gain sanctuary in Europe died after their boat collided with a ferry off the Turkish coast, officials there said. In Greece, the coast guard fanned out in the choppy waters of the Aegean Sea to search for another 24 people missing after their boat sank off the island of Lesbos.

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Coast guard officials said nearly three dozen people were rescued in the two incidents, which followed another sinking near Lesbos on Saturday, in which a 5-year-old girl drowned.

The events highlight the risks that those fleeing the Middle East, Africa, and Asia are willing to take in hopes of gaining asylum in Europe. Men, women, and children continue to take the perilous sea journey despite the fact that thousands of earlier migrants find themselves blocked by closed border crossings in the Balkans.

Hungary’s decision to shut its border with Serbia on Tuesday 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 southeastern Europe as authorities struggle to respond.

Hungary erected yet another steel barrier — this one at Beremend border post with Croatia — complete with a giant steel door to control the flow of migrants. The gate slowed the flow. But the people just kept coming.

In the Austrian border village of Nickelsdorf, people arrived by foot after completing a half-hour walk from the Hungarian town of Hegyeshalom. From there, buses and trains were taking them to emergency shelters in Vienna and other parts of Austria.

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The asylum seekers lined up, waiting for buses to relocate them across the country. Austrian soldiers stood alongside. Local officials struggled to find them places to stay, since many camps across Austria are already overcrowded.

Mahat, a lab technician from Damascus, was one of the thousands waiting to get onto the buses.

‘‘We came here only to get a new life,’’ said Mahat, who didn’t want to give his last name fearing repercussions by the Syrian government.

The 47-year-old said he had been trekking through Croatia with another 5,000 people before he eventually made his way to Nickelsdorf. He said he didn’t care where in Europe he ended up as long as he could live in peace and find a job.

Migrants gathered behind a police barricade in Tovarnik, Croatia, hoping to get on a bus going north.Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press

Mahat said he was originally living and working with his family in the United Arab Emirates until his father died in Syria three years ago.

‘‘I came to Syria to put my father in the ground. Then the government took my passport and they cut it. So three years I was suffering inside,’’ he said. ‘‘When I got the chance I just ran away and came here.’’

Conditions along the borders worsened, as days of intense heat gave way to rain and plummeting temperatures. Along the border in the Croatian town of Tovarnik, volunteers handed out tents and warm clothes

‘‘Unfortunately we sleep here on the ground without anything. It was very cold,’’ Muhammad Dakiri, a Syrian migrant, said. ‘‘Suddenly the weather has turned to cold and raining. We couldn’t sleep well because in an hour or half an hour we wake up because we’re feeling cold.’’

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Scuffles broke out in Tovarnik on Sunday when hundreds of people surged toward a train they hoped would take them to Austria. Police tried to hold back the crowd, but were overwhelmed as migrants tried to climb through the windows of the already packed carriages.

Meanwhile, leaders across the region continued sniping at one another, underscoring the sense of crisis and disarray in the days before European leaders meet to discuss the crisis.

Hungary’s erection of razor-wire fences is straining its ties with neighboring countries, which feel the problem of the huge flow of migrants is being unfairly pushed onto them. After completing a fence along the border with Serbia, Hungary is building fences along borders with Croatia and Romania.

After lashing out against Croatian officials, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto of Hungary is now trading barbs with his Romanian counterpart over the fence.

Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu of Romania called the border closure Saturday an ‘‘ unacceptable act’’ that violated the spirit of the European Union.

‘‘We would expect more modesty from a foreign minister whose prime minister is currently facing trial,’’ Szijjarto said. That was a reference to corruption charges filed recently against Prime Minister Victor Ponta of Romania.

‘‘We are a state that is more than 1,000 years old that throughout its history has had to defend not only itself, but Europe as well many times,’’ Szijjarto added.

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