Thousands stranded on new migrant route through Europe

"We are continuously monitoring the situation at the Slovenian, Croatian and Serbian borders, and are ready to react to any situation which might develop", said Kovacs.

Under the plan, European countries would offer aid and concessions to Turkey in exchange for measures to halt the flow of irregular migration. Police said that after processing, majority are transferred toward the Austrian border.

But Croatia retorted that it, too, was being unfairly burdened by unrelenting flows from Serbia, where United Nations officials estimate another 10,000 asylum seekers - more than double the summer's typical flow - are now traveling north to Croatia.

That figure appeared to have been reduced by the Slovenes to 1,500 a day because they said that's how many neighboring Austria allow across its border each day.

"We can not accept a number of migrants larger than the number of those who will continue their journey". "That would be unacceptable".

About 4,000 people remain a camp on the nations' border, Croatia said. More are expected to arrive during the day.

Muhammad Samin from Afghanistan said: 'We are waiting here 4 hours on the bus. We wear lots of shirts.

This created an effective no-man's land on the border and forced many to spend the night stuck in the open and struggling to sleep amid bitter cold, driving rain and wailing children.

Long lines have also formed on Croatia's border with Serbia. Hungary says it is also defending Christian Europe and its values from mainly Muslim migrants.

On Saturday, 12 refugees - four of them children - drowned while trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos, the Turkish coastguard said.

Hungary said Monday (Oct 19) its shutdown of the border with Croatia had put a stop to the influx of migrants and refugees, with only 41 crossing into the European Union member on Sunday. 'There will be challenges if the process becomes slow or we have a backlog of people'.

Hungary's closure of its border is the latest demonstration of Europe's disjointed response to the flow of people reaching its borders. Most refugees want to reach Germany, which for the moment is letting them enter.

However, despite the warning, Croatian authorities officially informed Slovenia that on Monday about 1,800 migrants will be sent to Slovenia.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Saturday's edition of the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that Germany can control its borders but not close them completely - "that wouldn't even succeed with a fence, as the example of Hungary shows".

Davutoglu is seeking concessions to work with the EU.

Jan Pinos, from a Czech volunteer group helping migrants, has compared the crowded border crossing between the two Balkan countries to a "dam on the river".

Pressure from the refugee crisis mounted elsewhere on the continent. Cleaning crews could be seen collecting the scattered belongings with shovels in hopes of clearing the boggy field in time for the next migrant wave coming north from Macedonia. At one point during the summer, hundreds of migrants, who live by the thousands in shanty camps in Calais, tried to rush the boarding area at once.