Source : B 92  28. January  2014.

Three asylum seekers due to tuberculosis and frostbite, after spending a night in the woods outside the Asylum Center in Bogovadja, have been admitted to the Valjevo hospital on January 28th, 2014.

The Serbian Commissariat for Refugees said that Asylum Center in Bogovadja has enough room, and that the asylum seekers in question “were most likely the ones who were previously in the Center in Tutin, but left of their own accord and headed toward Bogovadja on foot.”

On the Pulmonary Department of Valjevo hospital is placed asylum seeker from Somalia, a young man whom the doctors confirmed the diagnosis of tuberculosis and his condition is currently stable. Another asylum seeker, who was admitted with fever and symptoms of general weakness, is currently under observation on the Infections Department. They both said that they were walking by foot on the frost, until they reached Bogovadja and that they “spent a while” in the woods.

Sabri from Eritrea is recovering from the frostbite on his hands and feet on the Surgical Department of Valjevo hospital. He says that he spent one night under the open sky in a forest near the camp in Bogovadja.

.”Before I arrived at the camp I spent a few days walking through Serbia, because I couldn’t afford transport fare. It was very cold all the time, I had no gloves, and my shoes fell apart. I would slip and fall in the snow and ice, my friends who traveled with me would help me get up. My hands and feet hurt very much, I could not move any longer. When they told us there was no more room at the camp, I asked for help. The doctors and nurses here are taking care of me, I’m receiving infusion, they gave me some chocolate. The most important thing is that my hands and feet will not fall off.”, said Sabri, for whom Serbia is only a stop on his way to England, where he intends to seek permanent asylum.

During the last winter, two men from Mali, one from Palestine, and another from Syria were also treated at the Valjevo hospital for severe frostbites after spending several days walking toward Bogovadja wearing inadequate shoes for the season.

The Commissariat, in the meanwhile, said that there is no crisis in accommodation capacities for asylum seekers in Serbia. The camps in Bogovadja, Banja Koviljaca, Sjenica and Tutin can receive 535 people, while there are currently 400 people from African and Asian countries who found shelter there.
According to them, a group of 30 refugees that arrived in Bogovadja on Monday evening (January 27th, 2014) were immediately accepted in the local Center in which there are free room.

The Commissariat: There are no asylum seekers in the woods

In the Commissariat for Refugees say that there are no asylum seekers in the woods of Bogovadja, but it is possible that the refugees, like Sabri from Eritrea, are coming from the Asylum Center in Tutin, where they were provided accomodation, but they left it on their own initiative and headed to the Bogovadja.