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A refugee journey: All they left behind

Refugees abandon their possessions en-route to safe-haven, as they flee danger in rush to catch boats, trains and buses.

Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
Clothes and foodstuffs lay discarded at the side of a track cutting through fields, between the Serbian and Croatian border, where a group of Syrian refugees crossed the border at night. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
By Phil Moore
Published On 16 Oct 2015

Tovarnik, Croatia – Imagine leaving behind your home, your life, fleeing war and persecution, taking with you only what you can carry. Thousands of kilometres later, these fragments of your life lay discarded on the roadside and platform edges, the only traces that your anguish passed through these nondescript towns.

Over half a million people have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year, with over half of them coming from Syria, according to the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees.

Since September 15, when Hungary closed its border with Serbia, over 80,000 people have crossed through Croatia, many through the small town of Tovarnik, just over the border from Serbia.

The majority of these people crossed the Aegean sea, paying smugglers to cram them into tiny boats leaving Turkey, bound for Greek islands. Refugees in Tovarnik told Al Jazeera smugglers had thrown their bags of clothes and trinkets into the sea, the last vestiges of their lives “too heavy”. They were left with the clothes on their backs, and the promise of what lay ahead.

Their route to Croatia involved a string of buses, trains, and taxis, punctuated by long walks, crossing borders through fields. Entering the European Union, their momentum was halted by the fences that Hungary erected, and the human tailbacks this caused in Croatia. At each point along the way, items of clothing, a lost shoe, crushed sunglasses, marked their passage.  

Related: Refugees at Croatia – Serbia border

Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
A child's shoe on the roadside in the town of Tovarnik, early in the morning, as hundreds of people crowded to get on buses, leaving for a location unknown to them at the time. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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Shoes and rubbish on the railway tracks beside a train leaving Tovarnik. The train stood in the station, crammed with people, for hours as those onboard complained of the heat and lack of air. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
A broken pair of sunglasses lay fallen next to railway tracks in Tovarnik as hundreds of people pushed to try and board the train, their only option to leave Tovarnik. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
A pair of ladies' boots lay by the roadside in Tovarnik. Thousands of people had arrived here, waiting sometimes for days while authorities struggled to organise buses and trains to take them onwards to the border with Hungary or Slovenia. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
Clothes hang to dry on a tree in an orchard in Tovarnik. Thousands of people were stranded here for days at a time, often living with little or no access to basic services, including running water and toilets. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
Clothes, shoes, and a bag lay discarded in a bush by the roadside leading to the station in Tovarnik. Volunteers were handing out blankets and food items to some of those stranded here. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
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Tents, clothes and sleeping bags lay discarded by the side of the road in Tovarnik. Some of those stranded here slept in tents they had bought en-route. Many tents were left behind as people rushed to get on buses to travel onwards. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
In the rush to board the waves of buses that came to collect people for onward travel, much was left behind in the panic. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
A pair of shoes lay discarded in the ashes of a fire outside the transit centre set-up near Opatovac. Croatia struggled to deal with the people crossing its borders. This temporary camp built for 4,000 people was quickly overwhelmed. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
Shoes lay discarded next to a blanket given out by the United Nations Refugee Agency outside the transit centre in Opatovac. When the camp filled and queues formed to enter, many were forced to sleep outside. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]
Phil Moore/ DO NOT USE/ ALJAZEERA
Outside the Opatovac transit centre, people rushed to board buses that came to transport them onwards, abandoning their possessions. [Phil Moore/Al Jazeera]