UN MISSION IN BOSNIA ON DROWNED IMMIGRANTS

SARAJEVO, Aug 31 (Hina) - The casualty toll of the drowned Iranians in the River Sava increased to nine, the UN mission in Sarajevo reported on Thursday. Police in the eastern Croatian town of Slavonski Brod this morning confirmed that another two bodies of Iranians had been found in the River Sava. Seven corpses (four men and three children) were found before. These nine immigrants lost their lives when their boat sank in the Sava River while they were trying to pass illegally the border between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia in the night between Monday and Tuesday. Croatian police have apprehended two Croatian citizens suspected of being involved in this tragic case of smuggling immigrants, who try to reach western countries. Police are searching for another two Croats believed to be engaged in this case. A spokesman for the UN in Sarajevo said that to date nobody in Bosnia had been arrested on suspicion of being engaged in this case. Since Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina signed recently an agreement on the take-over of persons who illegally pass the frontier between these two countries, Croatian police have been returning illegal immigrants who arrive in Croatia from Bosnia. According to data available to the UN mission in Bosnia, only on 30 August, Croatian policemen returned 47 Iranians, 13 Iraqis and six Turks. Those 66 illegal immigrants were discovered in one truck on the territory of Croatia. None of them possessed any personal document. On 28 August, 26 illegal immigrants were transferred back to Bosnia. (hina) ms