Thirty-two migrants flee camp in southern Lithuania

  • 2021-08-14
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Thirty-two people ran away from a former school turned into a migrant camp in Verebiejai, a village in the southern Lithuanian district of Alytus, on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

"Two of them have been found and taken back to the school," Mindaugas Bajarunas, the ministry's spokesman, said, adding that the search for others continued.

A helicopter of the State Border Guard Service has been scrambled to help search for the missing migrants. 

Kristina Januleviciute, a spokeswoman for Alytus County Police, told BNS that police officers were called in to help count migrants when it was suspected that some of them might be missing. 

A search was launched after the suspicion proved to be correct.

The spokeswoman said 12 police crews were involved in the operation. 

Over 4,000 migrants have crossed into Lithuania from Belarus so far this year. Lithuania has declared an extreme situation due to the unprecedented migrant influx and allowed its border guards to push illegal arrivals back to Belarus.